Podcasts about Aperol

On Today's Menu:

Over the past two decades, the Aperol Spritz has gone from holiday staple to American warm-weather icon — and it's not hard to see why. The ratios are easy, the color pops on Instagram, and even the most reluctant cocktail drinker will say yes to bubbles and orange slices. But is there more to the Spritz than just aesthetics and low-stakes refreshment? To help us explore that question, we're joined by Brynn Smith of LA's Bar Next Door. Listen on (or read below) for Brynn's recipe — and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Brynn Smith's Aperol Spritz Recipe - 1 ½ ounces Aperol - 3 ounces Prosecco - 1 ½ ounces club soda - Garnish: orange slice Directions 1. Build cocktail in a stemmed glass over Kold Draft ice. 2. Stir lightly with a straw or spoon. 3. Garnish with orange slice.

This week, we're pulling another classic episode out of the archives for the newcomers. This one features one of the wildest voicemails we've heard yet, a mom having to break the holy water out for her daughter, and a surprise cameo from Robin.Episode Sponsors:Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits™ by going to joinbilt.com/absolutely.Go to Quince.com/absolutely for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOT.Go to cokeurl.com/simplyPOP to find out where you can try Simply Pop!Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to SkylightCal.com/ABSOLUTELYTo explore coverage, visit ASPCAPetInsurance.com/absolutely.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Stassi is joined by LadyGang's Jac Vanek to talk all things LadyWorld—the first-ever podcast festival happening this September 26-28, 2025 in Miramar Beach, Florida. Jac shares how it all started with a glamping idea and turned into a full-blown interactive weekend with all the famous podcast girlies. They also bond over preferring day-drinking to being out late, they rank their favorite seasons (spoiler: they have completely opposite rankings), and they reminisce about their good ol high school days. Plus, they unpack the chaos of social media—why filters are still cringe, how TikTok makes everyone look suspiciously gorgeous, and what the term “b*tch eating crackers” has to do with Blake Lively. It's millennial nostalgia, influencer burnout, and Aperol spritz vibes all in one.Thanks for supporting our sponsors:Progressive: Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance.Minnow: Go to shopminnow.com and enter code MEETMINNOW15 at checkout to receive 15%off your first order.Ro: Ro's Insurance Checker lets you know if you're covered for GLP-1s—for free.Go to RO.CO/STASSI for your free insurance check.Bilt: Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits by going to joinbilt.com/stassi.Quince: Go to Quince.com/stassi for free shipping on your order and 365 dayreturns.Booking.com: Find exactly what you're booking for. Booking.com, Booking.YEAH! Booktoday on the site or in the app.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What if this summer wasn't just about Aperol spritzes and beach days—but also about building the kind of wealth that sticks? In this solo episode, Shari kicks off your Rich Girl Summer with real-talk financial and lifestyle moves that boost your net worth and your peace of mind. Forget the hype around luxury for show—this is about intentional habits, small wins, and making your future self proud. You'll walk away with: A smarter system for managing your bank accounts and subscriptions Easy, impactful upgrades to your Roth IRA, emergency fund, and insurance Practical tips for decluttering your closet, your calendar, and your mind Low-key life tasks that save you real money (like getting your taxes in order now) Mindset shifts that turn therapy, boundaries, and maintenance into financial power moves This isn't about deprivation—it's about alignment. And it's your permission slip to spend your summer building a life that feels rich in every way. Follow the show on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. Leave a quick rating and review to help us reach more amazing listeners. Keep the conversation going on Instagram @everyonestalkinmoney. Remember: Money should be a tool to live life on your term Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Given her vast array of expertise, Gabby Windey takes her guests on a deep dive into the topics today's audiences care about: dating (duh), sexuality (hell yes), health & mental health (ugh so important) plus a healthy dose of pop culture shit talk.Each episode, Gabby will be interviewing guests with the ultimate goal to break down walls and get beyond the typical interview questions— “So tell us about yourself” doesn't actually tell us anything about who the person really is- does it?! Instead, she skips the surface and plunges right into the core. Drawing from her experience as an ICU nurse, NFL cheerleader, and being The Bachelorette- Gabby is able to bring a unique perspective to each conversation. With discussions covering serious and relatable topics but approached from relatability and heart (along with Gabby's wicked sense of humor— of course).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather welcomes her friend from the internet Tinx to the pod after they both separately went to Beyonce the night before! They question why they have never met up for a 3 martini lunch and why finance bros get to enjoy them all the time. They connect on being pulled in too many directions and how they should start the Artist Way this summer. With an overdue book proposal, Heather asks Tinx about her book writing process after her new bestseller- Hotter in the Hamptons.Prolon is offering Absolutely Not listeners an exclusive chance to be among the first to try Next Gen—with 15% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program at ProlonLife.com/ABSOLUTELY!Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code ABSOLUTELY at Nuuly.com.Visit OliveandJune.com/ABSOLUTELY20 for 20% off your first System!Pick up GOODLES on your next shopping trip… it's available nationwide at Target and Walmart, plus many other major grocery stores and retailers.To explore coverage, visit ASPCAPetInsurance.com/absolutely.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elizabeth and Sarah unpack Netflix's Four Seasons, the new relationship comedy-drama about three married couples whose decades-long friendship starts to unravel after one of them divorces. Can their tradition of quarterly getaways survive the shift? The sisters dig into the tension, the wine-soaked weekends, and whether the show hits too close to home—or not close enough.#FourSeasonsNetflix #NetflixDrama #NetflixComedy #TVReview In the sister chat, they relive their own sister getaway—a whirlwind trip through Italy and England filled with pasta, prosecco, and gelato. From Florence to London, they recount the highs, lows, and everything in between. #SistersTrip #ItalyToEngland #TravelRecap #SisterChat #Eurotrip2025 #AperolAndAirports

Hello Interactors,My daughter in Manhattan's East Village sent me an article about the curated lives of the “West Village girls.” A few days later, I came across a provocative student op-ed from the University of Washington: "Why the hell do we still go to Starbucks?" The parallels stood out.In Manhattan's West Village, a spring weekend unfolds with young women jogging past a pastry shop in matching leggings, iced matcha lattes in hand. Some film it just long enough for TikTok. Across the country, students cycle through Starbucks in Seattle's U-District like clockwork. The drinks are overpriced and underwhelming, but that's not the point. It's familiar. It's part of a habitual loop.Different cities, similar rhythms. One loop is visual, the other habitual. But both show how space and emotion sync. Like an ambient synth track, they layer, drift, and return. If you live in or near a city, you exist in your own looping layers of emotional geography.FLASH FEEDSMy daughter has been deep into modular synthesis lately — both making and listening. It's not just the music that intrigues her, but the way it builds: loops that don't simply repeat, but evolve, bend, and respond. She'll spend hours patching sounds together, adjusting timing and tone until something new emerges. She likens it to painting with sound. Watching her work, it struck me how much her synth music mirrors city life — not in harmony, but in layers. She's helped me hear urban rhythms differently.Like a pop synth hook, the Flash loop is built for attention. It's bright, polished, and impossible to ignore. Synth pop thrives on these quick pulses — hooks that grab you within seconds, loops that deliver dopamine with precision. Urban spaces under this loop do the same. They set a beat others fall in line with, often flattening nuance in exchange for momentum.This isn't just about moving to a beat. It's about becoming part of the beat. When these fast loops dominate, people start adapting to the spaces that reflect them. And those spaces, in turn, evolve based on those very behaviors. It's a feedback loop: movement shaping meaning, and meaning shaping movement. The people become both the input and the output.In this context, the West Village girl isn't just a person — she's a spatial feedback loop. A mashup of Carrie Bradshaw nostalgia, Instagram polish, and soft-lit storefronts optimized for selfies. But she didn't arrive from nowhere. She emerged through a kind of spatial modeling: small choices, like where to brunch, where to pose, where to post are repeated so often they remade a neighborhood.Social psychologist Erving Goffman, writing in the 1950s, called this kind of self-presentation "impression management." He argued that much of everyday life is performance. Not in the theatrical sense, but in how we act in response to what we expect others see. Urban spaces, especially commercial ones, are often the stage. But today, that performance isn't just for others in the room. It's for followers, algorithms, and endless feeds. The “audience” is ambient, but its expectations are precise.As places like the West Village get filtered through lifestyle accounts and recommendation algorithms, their role changes. They no longer just host people, but mirror back a version of identity their occupants expect to see. Sidewalks become catwalks. Coffee shops become backdrops. Apartment windows become curated messes of string lights and tasteful clutter. And increasingly, the distinction between what's lived and what's posted collapses.This fast loop — what we might call spatial virality — doesn't just show us how to act in a place. It scripts the place itself. Stores open where the foot traffic is photogenic. Benches are placed for backdrops, not rest. Even the offerings shift: Aperol spritzes, charm bars, negroni specials sold not for taste but for tagability.These are the high-tempo loops. They grab attention and crowd the mix. But every modular synth set, like a painting, needs contrast.So some people opt out, or imagine doing so. Not necessarily with loud protest, but quiet rejection. They look for something slower. Something that isn't already trending...unless the trend of routine sucks you in.PULSING PATTERNSIf Flash is the pop hook, Pulse is the counter-melody. It could be a bassline or harmony that brings emotional weight and keeps things grounded. In music, you may not always notice it, but you'd miss it if it were gone. In cities, this loop shows up in slow friendships, mutual aid, and cafés that begin to feel like second homes. These are places where regulars greet one another by name. Where where hours melt through conversations. It satisfies a need to be seen, but without needing to perform. It's what holds meaning when spectacle fades.If the fast loop turns space into spectacle, the counter loop tries to slow it down. It lures the space to feel lived in, not just liked. It's not always radical. Sometimes it's just choosing a different coffee shop.Back in Seattle's University District, students do have options. Bulldog News. Café Allegro. George Coffee. These places don't serve drinks meant to be posted. They serve drinks meant to be tasted. They're not aesthetic first. They're relational. These are small gestures that build culture.Social psychologists Susan Andersen and Serena Chen describe this through what they call relational self theory. We don't become ourselves in isolation. We become ourselves with and through others — especially those we repeatedly encounter. Think about the difference between ordering coffee from a stranger versus someone who knows you like sparkling water with your Cortado. It's a different kind of transaction. It eases things. It reinforces your own loop.So why do people routinely return to Starbucks? It isn't just about caffeine addiction. It's about being part of a socially reinforced rhythm — anchored in convenience, recognition, and the illusion of choice.Stores like Starbucks are often strategically located for maximum accessibility and convenience. They're nestled near transit hubs, along commuter corridors, or within high-traffic pedestrian zones. These placements aren't arbitrary. They're optimized to integrate into daily routines. It's less like a countermelody and more like a harmonic parallel melody. As a result, practical considerations like proximity, availability, and reliability often override ideological concerns.People return not because the product is exceptional, but because the store is exactly where and when they need it. The Starbucks habit isn't only about routine, but rhythmic predictability that appears personal. In this sense, it functions as a highly accessible pulse: a loop that's easy to join and hard to break. It's made of proximity, subtle trust, and convenience, but is dressed as choice.My daughter's chosen counter loop lives in the East Village — not far, geographically, from the Instagram inspired brunch queues of Bleecker Street. Her loops are different. She carries conversations across record stores, basement venues, bookstores with hand-scrawled signs, and a few stubborn restaurants.These are Places where the playlists aren't streaming through Spotify. Her city isn't organized around visibility. It's organized around presence. Around being seen to be honored and remembered. Like the bookstore dude who knows the lore on everyone, or the cashier who waves her through without paying, or her Brooklyn bandmate friends who fold her in like family.Sure, this scene intersects with the popular loops — modular synths are having a moment — but it sidesteps the sameness. It stays unpredictable, grounded in curiosity and care rather than clicks. The gear is still patched by hand. The performances are messy and often temporary. And yet, the loops — literal and figurative — keep returning. Not because they're engineered for attention, but because they allow people to build something slowly...together...from the inside. Especially when done in partnership with another synthesist.You might see this in your own city. The quiet transformation of spaces: a café hosting a poetry night; a yoga studio turned warming shelter during the storm; a laundromat that leaves a stack of free books near the dryers. These are not accidents. They are interventions. Sometimes small, sometimes subtle...but always deliberate.They stand in contrast to the churn of the viral. They also offer an alternative to despair. Because the counter loop isn't just critique. It's care enacted. And care takes time.Still, even pulsing care needs structure. It needs floor drains, power outlets, and open hours. It needs a stable substructure.UNDERCURRENT UNDERTONESUndertone is the foundational structure on which other elements are built. It's the core of modular synth music. This isn't just rhythm. It's the subtle, slow, and reactive scaffolding. These core loops evolve and shift setting the timing and emotional tonality for everything else.They don't dominate, but they shape the flow. They respond to what surrounds them to ground the composition. Cities, too, have these base layers. Often imperceptible, they are visceral, ambient, and persistent. They come into focus with the smell of rain on warm pavement. The clink of a key in a front door. These are not songs you hum, they're the ones your heart and lungs make.Long before the influencer run clubs, celebrity shoe stores, and curated stoops, there was the mundane sidewalk. Not the kind tagged on a friend's story or filtered through the latest app. Just concrete. Scuffed by strollers, scooter wheels, boots, and time. The sidewalk doesn't follow trends, but it does remember them.Cities are built on these undertones: habitual routes, early deliveries, overheard exchanges, open signs flipped at the same hour each morning. They aren't glamorous. They don't go viral. But they are what hold everything together.Urban scholar Ash Amin calls this the “infrastructure of belonging.” In his work on ordinary urban life, he writes that much of what connects us isn't spectacular. It's what happens when people brush past one another without ceremony: the steady hum of life happening without the need for headlines. Cities function not just because of design, but because of everyday cooperation — shared rhythms, implicit trust, systems that keep working because people show up.It can seem mundane: a delivery driver making the same drop, a retiree watering the sidewalk garden they planted without permission, the clatter of trash bins returning to their spots. These moments don't make the city famous, but they do make it work.Even the flashiest loops rely on them. The West Village girl's curated brunch only happens because someone sliced lemons before sunrise and wiped the table clean before she sat down. The Starbucks habit loop in the U-District clicks into place because the supply truck showed up at 5 a.m. and the barista clocked in on time. They're the dominant undertone of cities: loops so steady we stop noticing them...until they stop. Like during the pandemic.A synthesist might point to an LFO: Low Frequency Oscillator. These make slow drones that hum under a syncopated rhythm; a pulsing sub-bass holding space while textures come and go. The mundane in a city does the same: it holds the mix together. Without it, the composition falls apart.If you've ever heard a modular synth set, you know it doesn't move like pop music. The loops aren't clean. They evolve, layer, drift in and out of sync. They build tension, release it, then find a new rhythm. Cities work the same way.Their beauty isn't always in sync — it's in polyrhythm. Like when two synth voices loop at slightly different speeds: a saw wave pinging every three beats, a filtered drone stretching over seven. They collide, resolve, then drift again. Like when a car blinker syncs to the beat of a song and then falls out again. In modular music, this dissonance isn't a flaw. It creates a sonic texture.City rhythms don't always align either. A delivery truck pulls up as a barista closes shop; protest chants counter a stump speech; showtimes shift with transit delays. These clashes don't cancel each other out — they deepen the city's texture, giving it groove.Sociologists Scannell and Gifford call this place attachment: the slow accrual of meaning in a space through repetition, emotional memory, and lived interaction. It's not always nostalgic. Sometimes it's forward-looking. The act of building the kind of city you want to live in, one relationship at a time.And beneath all of this, the city continues its own loop: subways running through worn tunnels, trash collected on quiet mornings, someone sweeping a shop floor before the door opens.Both protest and performance rely on this scaffold. The Starbucks picket line doesn't just appear. It's supported by planning, scheduling, and shared labor. The music scene doesn't just materialize. It's shaped by decades of flyers, friendships, and repeat customers.The viral and the intentional both need the mundane.Cities, when they work, are made of all three: the flash of now, the pulse of choice, and the undertone of the necessary. Like springtime flowers, the city creates blooms that emerge at the surface. They draw attention, cameras, and admiration. These blossoms don't just attract the eye, they draw in pollinators who carry influence and energy far beyond the original scene. But none of this happens without the rest of the plant. It's the leaves that capture sunlight day after day, the roots that pulse the unseen through tunnels, the microbes that toil in the grime and dirt to nourish those all around them. Urban life mirrors this looping ecology. Moments that flash brightly, pulses that quietly sustain, and undertones that hold it all together. The bloom is what gets noticed, but it's the layered and syncopated life below — repeating, decomposing, reemerging — that make the next blossom possible. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

On the episode, Heather is fresh off her NYC takeover—including a memorable night at The Beacon. Now she's back in her basement, recording old-school style and fighting off whatever funk the universe sent as a reminder to sit down and reset. She's booking check-ups, trying new beauty hacks, and figuring out what's going on with her wonky wrist. Plus, she shares her run-in with cosmetic consultation scammers, the betrayal of high-calorie coffee orders, and why she's dreaming of climbing Mount Everest. (Spoiler: she's not.)Episode Sponsors:Go to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at square.com/go/ABSOLUTELY.If you visit Carawayhome.com/ABSOLUTELYNOT you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ABSOLUTELY.Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code ABSOLUTELY at Nuuly.com.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we wrap up a film series that has spanned the decades and the a whole range of spectacular stunts. Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning pits Ethan Hunt up against his past and The Entity in a race to save the world one last time.Join us for Aperol, airplanes, 2 person decompression chambers, a fond farewell, and a chat about Mission: Impossible⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merch Shop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.drinkthemovies.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠*Please Drink Responsibly*

On this episode, Heather welcomes Kelsey Cook to the podcast studio. Kelsey is another fabulous comic that is on tour and has released her new special, Mark Your Territory. They connect on never being to Coachella, the similarities of boomers and millennials, survival jobs and where they stand on Crumbl cookies. Kelsey also finds out that she is actually another race because she is a red head.Episode Sponsors:Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits™ by going to joinbilt.com/absolutelyVisit JustThriveHealth.com and use code ABSOLUTELY for 20% off your first 90 day bottle. That's like getting a month for free!Get 15% off Branch Basics with the code ABSOLUTELY at https://branchbasics.com/ABSOLUTELY #branchbasicspodVisit ProlonLife.com/ABSOLUTELY to claim your 15% discount and your bonus gift.Schedule your free consultation now at Sonobello.com/absolutely.Go to Quince.com/absolutely for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is back in NYC and welcomes two cruising hussies to the pod. Andrea and Anna are hosts of their own pod Big Wigs but are famously known for their impressions. They chat about how they met, the cruise, their favorite Boar's Head meats, and being related to a serial killer. We also get a surprise appearance from two of their favorite Calabasas characters.Episode Sponsors:For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOT.Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits™ by going to joinbilt.com/absolutelyVisit ProlonLife.com/ABSOLUTELY to claim your 15% discount and your bonus gift.Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code ABSOLUTELY at Nuuly.comVisit OliveandJune.com/ABSOLUTELY20 for 20% off your first System!Give the “dads” in your life a unique, heartfelt gift you'll all cherish for years—Storyworth! Right now, save $10 during their Father's Day sale when you go to Storyworth.com/absolutely!Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

UnREAL premiered 10 years ago and is having a panel at the ATX Television Festival this year, so I thought what better way to celebrate than to cover the pilot episode. You can stream the show on Netflix.Reality shows are often full of drama, but in the case of dating show `Everlasting', there may be more drama behind the scenes than there is in front of the camera. Executive producer Quinn commands her staff to get dramatic and outrageous footage for the show, which forces young producer Rachel to manipulate the relationships among the contestants to get the show's final cut to match Quinn's vision of it. As show star Adam searches for his perfect mate, the show's staff members deal with their own romantic predicaments on the set. Rachel's ex-boyfriend is one of the show's cameramen, and his current fiancee, Lizzie, is the makeup artist.“The Final Rose” - An UnREAL Cocktail:

Today I'm talking with wine expert extraordinaire Jane Norrington. We talk about perfect spring cheese pairings and the fascinating world of wine certification. The recipe she tells us about is the ultimate refreshing summer cocktail that will make your patio gatherings feel like a European vacation!Jane's Aperol Spritz Recipe3 parts prosecco2 parts Aperol1 part soda waterIt's a 3-2-1 recipe meaning you can make any amount, using the same recipe. For one person, you'd do 3 ounces prosecco, 2 ounces Aperol, and 1 ounce soda water. For 2 people, you'd do 6 ounces prosecco, 4 ounces Aperol, and 2 ounces soda water.To make it, put ice into a large wine glass. Pour in the prosecco, Aperol, and soda water. Garnish with a wedge of orange.Jane's Links:Website: SeeJaneDrinkWine.comInstagram: @SeeJaneDrinkWineChristine's Links:Blog: CookTheStory.comWebsite: TheCookful.comCookbook: The All New Chicken CookbookRecipes:The Best Flank SteakEasiest Air Fryer Chicken ParmesanHow To Dry-Brine SteaksExtra-Garlicky Garlic Butter ShrimpDIY Avocado Toast Seasoning BlendFrozen WatermelonCooking Beet GreensRecommendation: SYLTBAR Prosecco

Michelle Razavi, the co-founder of Elavi, pulls back the curtain on how the brand landed a $1 million order from Costco just four months after the debut of its protein brownies. The hosts also discuss Chobani's purchase of Daily Harvest and Via Verde Valle's acquisition of A Dozen Cousins and how the latter may reflect a new paradigm in which founders favor strategic exits over prolonged fundraising Show notes: 0:45: Pass The Brownies. Sample Your Wares. Fundraise Or Sell? Justin Time. Phony And Fantastic. – The hosts munch on Elavi's protein brownies and heap praise on the brand's co-founders Michelle Razavi and Nikki Elliot. They also highlight sampling opportunities and retailer buyer access at BevNET Live Summer 2025, before diving into recent industry M&A activity, including Chobani's acquisition of Daily Harvest and Verde Valley's acquisition of A Dozen Cousins. They discuss how these moves reflect shifting strategies in CPG, where founders increasingly favor strategic exits over prolonged fundraising. The team also reviews a variety of new products, including Justin's new better-for-you candy bars, Campari's non-alcoholic spritz Crodino, and the standout Phony White Negroni by St. Agrestis. Other notable mentions include energy-infused gum, crypto-themed sparkling water, and functional tea and coffee drinks. 29:09: Interview: Michelle Razavi, Co-Founder, Elavi – Michelle talks about how Elavi spotted whitespace in the protein snack category, the brand's journey to retail readiness, including key learnings from Costco roadshows, and how strategic packaging design and in-store execution have fueled velocity at scale. She also discusses buyer relationships, proving value as an emerging brand, and the internal resilience required to lead a mission-driven company through rapid iteration and distribution. Brands in this episode: Elavi, Olipop, Chobani, Polar, Daily Harvest, A Dozen Cousins, Verde Valle, Snickers, Gigantic Candy, Harken Sweets, Justin's, Campari, Aperol, Crodino, Crush, St. Agrestis, Instant Energy Gum, Rekt, Fktea, Fuzzee Coffee, RXBAR, Caulipower

On this episode, Heather is in the studio after a big weekend performing at her home theatre - The Fox. She chats about how doing a show at home can be more stressful than any other cities and how the acquaintances come out of the woodwork to get those free tickets. She tries to relax on Sunday by putting out all her lawn furniture for the summer but the heat index had other plans. She is excited to get to NYC for her show at the Beacon and her week in the city. She gets to take some voicemail about the after party, a lost photo and a hot take on recording comedians.Episode Sponsors:Head to https://www.squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ABSOLUTELY.Treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. Save 20% Off Honeylove at honeylove.com/ABSOLUTELYGo to Quince.com/absolutely for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.Head to http://primalkitchen.com/absolutelynotpodcast to save 20% off your next online order with code ABSOLUTELY at checkout.Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to SkylightCal.com/ABSOLUTELYCancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/absolutely today. Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Unfrozen crew hit the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale with all the furious energy our 100th episode deserved. A rollicking roundup of robots, pans, picks, porches and pavilions, with special guest interviews: Michele Champagne, Kate Wagner, Marisa Moran Jahn, Bekim Ramku, Rafi Segal, Jeanne Gang, and Mark Cavagnero. And finally, while Rome picked a pontiff, we had our own mini-conclave in Venice and humbly offered up our picks for the 20th Biennale curator. Join us for this extra special centenary episode.--Intro/Outro: “Bounder of Adventure,” by The Cooper Vane--Discussed:-      Olly Wainwright: Can robots make the perfect Aperol spritz? – Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 review | Architecture | The Guardian-         Rowan Moore: Venice Architecture Biennale review: ‘a hot mess of pretension' | The Observer-         The New York Architecture Review crew: Nicolas, Chloe and Sammy-         International Exhibition in the Arsenaleo  Robots, hemp, bio-concrete, 8-point font with AI-assisted summarieso  Kate Crawford and Vladan Joier's megascale text: Calculating Empireso   Bjarke Ingels Group's entry: Ancient Future, with Bhutanese carvers paced by an ABB roboto  Christopher Hawthorne's Speaker's Cornero  Shades of Rem Koolhaas' 2014 Fundamentals edition-         Kate Wagner's review:o  Dated techno-optimismo  Cannibalism of architecture by art and exhibition design-         National Pavilions:o  Austria: “Agency for Better Living”o  Canada: “Picoplanktonics” by The Living Room Collectiveo  Denmark: “Build of Site”o  Estonia: “Let Me Warm You”o  Romania: “Human Scale”o  Saudi Arabia: “The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection”o  Slovenia: “Master Builders”o  South Korea: “Little Toad, Little Toad”, but mainly this cato  Spain: “Internalities: Architectures for Territorial Equilibrium”o  UAE: “Pressure Cooker”o  USA: “Porch: An Architecture of Generosity”§  Curators: ·        Peter MacKeith, Fay Jones School of Architecture, University of Arkansas·        Rod Bigelow, Executive Director, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art·        Marlon Blackwell, Marlon Blackwell Architects·        Susan Chin, Design Connects·        Stephen Burks, Man Made§  Shades of the timber-themed 2021 exhibit, but with a twist§  Interview with Mark Cavagnero, Mark Cavagnero Associates, on participation in Porch and his work updating the original 1969 design of the Oakland Museum of California by Kevin Roche and Dan Kiley o  Uzbekistan: A Matter of Radiance-         Interview with collaborators on Art-Tek Tulltorja, conversion of former brick works into a tech hub and community center, Pristina, Kosovo:o  Rafi Segal, Associate Professor, Architecture & Urbanism, MITo  Marisa Moran Jahn, Director, Integrated Design,Parsons School of Designo  Bekim Ramku, OUD+ Architectso  Nol Binakaj, OUD+ Architects-         Interview with Jeanne Gang, amidst a Bio-Blitz powered by the iNaturalist app and featuring a “disco ball for bees”-         Unfrozen's nominations for 2027 Biennale curator:o  Carolyn Whitzman, Senior Housing Researcher, Schoolof Cities, University of Toronto and author of Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisiso  Diane Longboat, Senior Manager, StrategicInitiatives, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto§  See: Sweat lodge at the Centero  Patrick Bellew, Chief Sustainability Officer, Surbana Jurong (Atelier Ten)§  Gardens by the Bay cooling system,powered by incinerated tree trimming wasteo  Peter Barber, Peter Barber Architectso  Eyal Weizman, Forensic Architecture-         Stafford Beer: “The purpose of the system is what it does.”

On the episode, Heather is feeling nautical (and musical) in a fully bedazzled ship captain's hat. She has some hot takes on the newly appointed American pope and shares some of the gifts she received on the cruise. She dives into Robin's controversial stance on why dining out on Mother's Day is an absolute no and then provides advice to your voicemails about breakups, cocktails, and short skirts. Episode Sponsors:Head to https://www.squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ABSOLUTELY.If you visit Carawayhome.com/ABSOLUTELYNOT you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOT.Prolon is offering Absolutely Not listeners an exclusive chance to be among the first to try Next Gen—with 15% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program at ProlonLife.com/absolutely. Shop SKIMS Ultimate Bra Collection and more at SKIMS.com.Pick up GOODLES on your next shopping trip. It's available nationwide at Target and Walmart, plus many other major grocery stores and retailers.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of SPACES, Dimitrius discusses the Venice Architecture Biennale, exploring its significance, themes, and the impact it has on the architectural landscape. He highlights the theme of the 2025 exhibition, critiques the relevance and accessibility of the Biennale in general, and suggests future directions for the event to enhance its societal contributions.As mentioned in the show:Can robots make the perfect Aperol spritz? – Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 reviewBiennale Architettura 2025Exclusive Interview with Curator Carlo Ratti at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025'Whats the point of all this?' Patrik Schumacher's blistering critique of the Venice Architecture Biennale stirs debateAlejandro Aravena: My architectural philosophy? Bring the community into the processTHE ESSENTIAL HOMES RESEARCH PROJECTIf you enjoy our content, you can check out similar content from our fellow creators at Gābl Media. Spaces Podcast Spaces Podcast website Spaces Podcast // Gābl Media All rights reserved Mentioned in this episode:Inside NBTN AdTonicDM

Are you as obsessed with the divas of White Lotus Season 2 as we are?? Female characters aren't always given such a strong spotlight but White Lotus Season 2 is able to uniquely highlight female perspectives in a male-dominated world, showing how women learn to navigate and cope on an individual level. Tune in to this episode of She Runs the Plot: Sex, Power, and Aperol, where we'll be sharing our takes on many of the season's multifaceted female characters. Producer & Co-host: Maya PasechnikCo-editor & Co-host: Emily LewisHead Editor: Myanoe AungRecordist & Co-editor: Nate Perla

Taste of Taylor is a podcast hosted by radio veteran Taylor Strecker, where pop culture, entertainment news, and the amusing chaos of Taylor's life collide.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the episode, Heather is home for a few days and back in the Atlanta studio. She has been enjoying her few days at home, before it's back on the road. She goes over how Robin's trip to Portugal has been going and how her own show in Chicago went. She takes on the voicemails to find probably the #1 absolutely not of all time. Can this be the one?Episode Sponsors:AG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out DrinkAG1.com/absolutely to get this offer!This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ABSOLUTELY and get on your way to being your best self.Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/absolutely today.Start earning points on rent you're already paying by going to joinbilt.com/ABSOLUTELY.Head to http://primalkitchen.com/absolutelynotpodcast to save 20% off your next online order with code ABSOLUTELY at checkout.Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code ABSOLUTELY at Nuuly.comProduced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to our review of PR pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins and mergers & acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in April 2025Andrew is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Before we start, two pieces of good news at PRmoment this week. The first is that the programme for PR Masterclass: AI in PR is now complete. The PR Masterclass series are hybrid events so you can attend either in person or virtually. The event is on July 3rd and themes include:How to Integrate AI into your PR WorkflowThe impact of AI on JournalismAI as a content production toolIs LLM optimisation PR's biggest opportunity of our lifetimes?How will AI impact the agency business model?How to build and scaling AI-powered PR toolsThe legal implications of AI in your communicationsThe intersection of PR and AI for in-house communicatorsHow to move from AI experimentation to implementationCheck out the microsite PRMasterclasses.com for all the details including the speaker line-up.The other vital bit of information is that The Creative Moment Awards are now open for entries. You can see all the categories for 2025 at the microsite creativemomentawards.co.The early bird entry deadline is Friday 16th May.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.Here's a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:Here is this month's run down of the biggest PR pitch wins in April 2025:“Brands are hiring for what agencies can do, they are less fussed about who the agency is.”Here is a link to Ben Smith's podcast with W's Warren Johnson that was referred to in the show. Toyota and Lexis GB appointed Hope&Glory - Another big win for the UK consumer independent PR firm, it's a strategy and creative development brief.Heineken UK appointed  Blurred – Oversee corporate social impact strategy.Tik Tok appointed  Ready10 – Consumer PR for TikTok and TikTok Shop amidst security and content moderation concerns.Tesco appointed Pretty Green and Tin Man – New creative agency roster for consumer PR.Russell Hobbs/Remington appointed B The Communications Agency – PR, influencer, and social media for a 3-year contract.Dunelm appointed  Tin Man – Consumer and influencer PR to increase brand awareness.Channel 4 appointed Mischief – Launching TV series, including Handmaid's Tale final series.Plaidis Global appointed The Romans – UK savoury portfolio PR.Aperol appointed Manifest – Global PR and influencer strategy.Trip.com appointed Rooster – UK and European PR for online travel service provider.Heathrow Express appointed Splendid – Retained PR agency following a project on language masterclasses.Mountain Warehouse – Work and Class – Integrated communications account to inform customers globally.Michael Page – Words+Pixels – Consumer and B2B PR to raise the profile of the global recruiter.LNER – Brands2Life/Mischief/One Green Bean – Creative roster for the train operating company.Sky News – Mu

In this light-hearted bonus episode, Lilly and Beth catch up after the recent public holidays and share all the highs and lows of their mini getaways. From travel with kids to juggling Mum life while trying to relax, nothing is off-limits.Tune in for a fun chat about returning to exercise, finding glimmers of joy, and navigating those inevitable growing pains. Plus, Lilly shares a cheeky Aperol-spritz confession you won't want to miss.Topics we cover:Travelling with little ones over the holidaysCombating car trips with kids (is there a secret sauce or science)The reality of ‘holidaying' as a MumGetting back into exercise routinesGlimmers, growth, and candid confessionsWhether you're a busy mum or just here for the laughs, this one's for you.Please join us over on @growingthepodcast and share us with your Mum Club. 

On this episode, Heather is taking it old school and recording live from a hotel room in Miami. No, she isn't still on the cruise, she is back to working girl life as a corporate girlie. She gives the cruise recap from her perspective and how emotional it made it. She also chats about another milestone-reaching 1 million miles on Delta. She wraps it up with more cruise voicemails from cruisers themselves.Episode Sponsors:Start earning points on rent you're already paying by going to joinbilt.com/ABSOLUTELYAG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out DrinkAG1.com/absolutely to get this offer!Head to https://www.squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ABSOLUTELYHead to http://primalkitchen.com/absolutelynotpodcast to save 20% off your next online order with code ABSOLUTELY at checkout.Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code ABSOLUTELY at Nuuly.com.Visit OliveandJune.com/ABSOLUTELY20 for 20% off your first System! Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Everyone dreams of sipping Aperol spritzes on a sun-drenched terrace all day — but what's the real life behind the Instagram highlight reel?

Rover stopped at his house to get his bottle of Aperol to take to a winery. Charlie backs out of the bet he made with a listener. New rule to the Keep Calm and Leave It On challenge.

Rover stopped at his house to get his bottle of Aperol to take to a winery. Charlie backs out of the bet he made with a listener. Krystle is like a teenager on the phone with Skinny. Self-driving car stops on the highway. If Krystle wins Rover could then compare his and Skinny's height. After Rover read the signs, he realized he is not a good person. Glen Danzig's take on returning your shopping cart. Snitzer is going to see Harry Potter on Broadway. Challenge number 3 is announced in the Battle for Britain. The contestants for the Battle for Britain spin the wheel to find out who's pubes they have to smoke. Krystle preps the Hairy joints to be smoked. Rover leaves in a rush.

Rover stopped at his house to get his bottle of Aperol to take to a winery. Charlie backs out of the bet he made with a listener. New rule to the Keep Calm and Leave It On challenge. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rover stopped at his house to get his bottle of Aperol to take to a winery. Charlie backs out of the bet he made with a listener. Krystle is like a teenager on the phone with Skinny. Self-driving car stops on the highway. If Krystle wins Rover could then compare his and Skinny's height. After Rover read the signs, he realized he is not a good person. Glen Danzig's take on returning your shopping cart. Snitzer is going to see Harry Potter on Broadway. Challenge number 3 is announced in the Battle for Britain. The contestants for the Battle for Britain spin the wheel to find out who's pubes they have to smoke. Krystle preps the Hairy joints to be smoked. Rover leaves in a rush. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this truly iconic episode, Heather is coming to you live from the Absolutely Knot cruise. She has a live audience on the deck and two guests to bring you all the on board updates and of course, Absolutely Not's. If you have all the fomo, you will not want to miss this one. Episode Sponsors:Our favorite cookware set will save you $150 versus buying the items individually. Plus, if you visit Carawayhome.com/ABSOLUTELYNOT you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.Whether you're gifting to yourself or a loved one, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off any order! Enjoy free shipping when you subscribe. Go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOTGIFT.Shop SKIMS Ultimate Bra Collection and more at SKIMS.com and SKIMS LA Flagship on Sunset Blvd. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you!Head to http://primalkitchen.com/absolutelynotpodcast to save 20% off your next online order with code ABSOLUTELY at checkout.Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/absolutely today.Right now, our listeners get 15% off the Premium Starter Kit by using code ABSOLUTELY at BranchBasics.comProduced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is physically on the cruise, but has brought you a Master's recap prior to boarding the ship. She chats about her time at the Par 3, trying to be everyone else's photographer, and of course the coveted merch haul. She also has a message for the millennial white women's fashion choices. Episode Sponsors:Go to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Go to Quince.com/absolutely for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.Start earning points on rent you're already paying by going to joinbilt.com/ABSOLUTELYHead over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Just visit ProlonLife.com/ABSOLUTELY to claim your 15% discount and your bonus gift.Treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. Save 20% Off Honeylove at honeylove.com/ABSOLUTELY.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is back with Rosebud Baker for a light pregame just in time for The Absolutely Knot Cruise. Rosebud chats about her relationship, becoming a mom, and taking her comedy in a new direction this time around on tour. They also drop some piping hot takes on the Real Housewives and give the scoop on their upcoming cruise shenanigans. It's been a long road and the ladies are at Brat Status - as they should be!Episode Sponsors:Pick up GOODLES on your next shopping trip… it's available nationwide at major grocery stores and retailers.Absolutely Not is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/ABSOLUTELY today to get 10% off your first month.Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/absolutely today.Head to http://primalkitchen.com/absolutelynotpodcast to save 20% off your next online order with code ABSOLUTELY at checkout.Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code ABSOLUTELY at Nuuly.comHead over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marcy Dermansky: House of Balloons (2 ounces vodka, 1 ounce Aperol, 1/2 ounce lemon juice, 1/2 ounce grapefruit juice, simple syrup, top with club soda)Marcy talks about the struggles of a working writer including waiting in an unemployment line in New York while holding her newborn baby the week of publication of her novel, her isolating move to Germany and her return to New York where she was a more productive writer, how publishing short fiction can in some ways be more difficult than publishing a novel, and the fact that someone she is friends with on Facebook is the inspiration for a major character in her new novel though he does not know it

Welcome to another exciting episode of "Dishing with Stephanies Dish." In this episode, I am joined by my fellow travel enthusiast, Michael Kenney from Defined Destinations, as we dive into the world of adventurous group travel. Fresh from their trips to Croatia and Asia, they're setting their sights on a new journey to Sicily, Italy. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or a wanderlust-driven explorer, you'll discover the unique experiences that Sicily promises, from breathtaking historic cities to mesmerizing volcanoes and, of course, delectable Italian cuisine. Join Stephanie and the Michaels for a delightful conversation about the joys of traveling with a group, the thrill of meeting new people, and the authentic charm that awaits in Sicily. Whether you're considering joining their next adventure or simply living vicariously through their tales, this episode offers a captivating glimpse into the magic of defined destinations. Let the journey begin!Stephanie Hansen:Hello, everybody. Welcome to the podcast, Dishing with Stephanie's Dish. I hope you're doing great today. I am here with my friend, Michael Kenney, and Michael and I have been traveling together a couple years now. Right, Michael?Michael Kenney:Yeah. We've had, two trips under our belt. So it's, a trip to Croatia and, just recently that Cambodia Vietnam trip. So we've been we've been putting some miles down, Stephanie.Stephanie Hansen:I actually actually was somewhere last night and ran into someone from our trip, and we were comparing our bracelets from when we met the Buddhist monk because both of us still have ours on. Yes.Michael Kenney:Mine, like, just kinda fell apart.Stephanie Hansen:It was such a Oh,Michael Kenney:I woke up in the sun.Stephanie Hansen:Trip. Yes. I'm I'm gonna keep it on as long as I can. It was such a life changing trip. Asia was somewhere that I'd always wanted to go and really didn't have the confidence to do it by myself. So you gave me confidence. Going with other people gave me confidence, and we ended up having such a great time. Pretty good.Stephanie Hansen:I have had another great trip with you. We went to Croatia, and that was an awesome trip. We were on kind of like an exclusive private yacht with, Stan, our tour guide, who was probably one of the best tour guides ever.Michael Kenney:For sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you're going back there to Croatia this summer, aren't you?Michael Kenney:Yeah. Personally, I'm not. I'm gonna have somebody else. I'm a little envious because, yeah, that that trip was straight out of a dream. And, you and your, listeners, followers, they were so much fun.Stephanie Hansen:So Yeah. We did have a good time.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It was great.Stephanie Hansen:So I wanted to podcast with you because people ask me all the time about these trips and, like, how it works and what we do and, you know, like, are you, like, checking people's passports? I'm like, no. Silly. I'm not. But we have a trip coming up to Sicily, a taste of Sicily, which you have so sweetly on your your background there. That's smart. October 14 through the twenty second. And our final payments, I think, are due in June. So we're kind of in the hunt for getting everybody signed up and confirmed.And I wanted to talk with you. I've been to Italy a lot, actually, but I've never been to Sicily. So I'm excited about what that area is gonna be like and you've been. So I thought, alright. Let's just talk a little bit about this and get to know a little bit about how these trips work. So, I like to do trips with people because I like to travel with others. And people always ask me, well, are they food trips? Yes. They are food.Like, we eat food. We enjoy food. We talk about food, but it isn't, like, exclusively a food trip. We know that when you're going to some of these historic destinations that you also wanna see some of the beautiful sites. So we try to mix in some food things like special tastings, special wine events, or special dinners, but we also wanna give you some time to explore the region on your own so that you can go to the restaurants that really appeal to you. And, you know, when you're going with the group, sometimes it's not easy to go to some of these really exclusive special places because you have a larger group. Our group on a trip like this would be, what, would you say, like, less than, like, 26 probably?Michael Kenney:Yeah. It this group size will be anywhere from 20 to 30 maximum on this trip. So it's a real nice, you know, size group for sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you've been to Sicily before. When was the last time you went?Michael Kenney:I was with a group two years ago in Sicily. So I've been there three other times. So just most recently, just two years ago.Stephanie Hansen:And you and I like, I kinda gave you my short list of places. And you asked me about Sicily, and I was like, oh, well, I don't know. I've never really thought about that. And you were like, oh my gosh. It's one of your favorite places in Italy. So tell me what it is that you love about Sicily in particular.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. That that that's a great question. You already mentioned you've been to Italy several times, and we get a lot of people that have been to Italy. And they're like, alright. I've already done that. Or maybe you haven't, you know, seen the the Colosseum and Venice and things like that. Sicily is is Italian, but it's an island in the middle of the Mediterranean.Michael Kenney:So it's just it's it's it's similar, but it's different. I think everything is elevated. Their food, their sites. I mean, the history has a whole Greek, northern the Arabs. It's a Spanish influence in Normans. They've all kinda come to this island in the middle of the the Mediterranean and put, like, their best foods, their their best everything. And it's kinda mixes and makes a Sicilian dish, which is really cool. So it's it's similar, yes, with their pastas and things like that in Mainland Europe, but it's it's a different notch.Michael Kenney:I think it's above, regular standard Italian food. It's just the flavors, the the spices, everything like that is just it's so good. And that's just the food side of it. And then, of course, I already mentioned with with the Greeks in the Spanish and the Normans, they have their own architectures that they brought, a mix of different languages. So you really feel like you're in a whole another country. It says in Italy, but the Sicilians say we're Sicilian first, then we're Italian.Stephanie Hansen:That's funny.Michael Kenney:So it's it's really so different, of an experience on that end. And I even have, a couple of friends going on this trip, and they've never been to Europe before. And they're saying, hey. We're we're gonna join you on this trip because it sounds lovely, but we've never been to Europe. We've never seen the Colosseum, things like that. Like, is this a good trip for us to take? I go, for sure it is. I mean, you don't have these, you know, the Leaning Tower Of Pisa, but once you get get to these places, you'll say, oh my gosh. I mean, a church that's, a thousand years old, or the little villages that are, you know, 500 years old and just oozing with this with charm.So you're really, having this real great Italian Sicilian experience, but maybe not knowing the sites, but it'll kinda resonate even better when you come back and tell your stories. It's just a beautiful, beautiful trip.Stephanie Hansen:And I think, you know, I've been to Rome. I've been to a lot of the little Italian islands on sailing trips with my husband. And we've been to Naples. We've been to Venice. We've been all over, really. And each of Italy has its own uniqueness, but the islands themselves are just something different because you really did get a lot of influences of people coming through and the trading that happened. And they also weren't as involved in the wars because they were sort of moving to the mainland. So you get a lot of different preservation possibilities, and the culture just held up because they weren't impacted by the wars in the same way.Michael Kenney:Exactly. And I think even early on, Sicilians were were very poor as well. So a lot of things just really, held. So they didn't, you know, knock down buildings and build new skyscrapers, things like that. It's like you're being, on the set of The Godfather, which was filmed there too, part of it at least. And, it was, like, set in time, and you're going there and just really experiencing the the feel, the taste, the smell, even you could call, like, the grit of, like, Palermo. I mean, it has this edge to it in a sense, like, this is a real living city. It sound like all spruced up to be perfect, like, on a set, but that's what makes it so so fantastic.It it's it's real. And I don't think you always get that experience that you're in in Central Rome, and they they, you know, it's all beautiful up. Again Palermo and all these cities that will visit are extremely beautiful but it has it's just a different edge to it and every group that I've ever been there with Stephanie if they've come back and said wow this is a dream. Not just the food, the sites, the experiences, the people. The people are real. They're they're fabulous. So it's it's a real real, just an amazing immersion, if you will, to Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:One of the things that people ask me about too, and I'll be honest with you. I'm not really, like, someone that you would think of as a group traveler. I like a certain amount of, alone time. I don't love to have every single thing coordinated for me. My husband, as you know, is a big adventurer and explorer. He's always the first one to do anything crazy on these trips. But it having a group is it's so nice when it's a smaller group like this because you do get to meet new people. You do get to create a community amongst your travelers.And I'll tell you, my friend Laurie Bargini that went on our Asia trip with us, she was very she's a big traveler too, and she was like, I don't know about this group thing. I was like, just give it a try. Like, Asia's a good one to test it out because it's probably a destination you wouldn't go alone. And she signed up right away for Sicily. She was like, I loved the group elements because when I wanted to, I had a group of friends and it was fun and we could hang out together and do fun things, but also when I wanted to be alone, I could do that too. It she thought it added a whole another layer to the travel experience than you just get either with you and your spouse or you and your friends because you have this whole other dynamic of people that for the most part is pretty great.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I know. And I and that's great. And Laurie was great. I'm glad she signed up because on the flight back from Asia, she sat next to me on the flight, and that's a seventeen hour flight. And if she wants to go back, then that that that's great.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. It's good. Well, you know she talked to you the whole time probably.Michael Kenney:No. I tried to again, maybe it's like the group element. You know, have time on, time off. So I'm glad that was brought up. And I've been doing group tours for twenty eight years now, which I I I can't believe. And I I first started getting into tourism because I wanted to see sites. I'm like, I know I can't pay for it, so I need to be a tour guide and and going from that. I didn't realize the whole experience and having shared experiences with others was gonna be my highlight.And to this day, that's my favorite part is going to meet people that I've never met before and going having these shared experiences with. And and sometimes, you know, you build friends for a lifetime off of that.Michael Kinney:I think especially our last group too, we we really, built that with several of the the travelers, which is great. So and I so if you're hesitant, like, well, I'd like to this trip sounds great or any of our trips, but I am kind of worried about that. We really try to balance all our tours out. It's it's it's imperative that we have that balance of, some of the group time to have these, shared experiences to leisure time so that you can go and have your own adventures. And that is so crucial to all of our trips. That's why our hotels, and we can talk about that later, are centrally located. So once we go out and do, say, our city tour, our our our food tour in Palermo and walking around, you'll have, like, the remainder of the day to go explore on your own or some of those new friends that you met. Maybe you can go out and have a glass of wine with them.But again, it's all about that balance. And we each and every itinerary that we put together, we really work on making sure we have that balance in in the trips itself. Because I think that is the success of it. So we don't pack the days all day long on, like, seeing this, this, and this. We give you the nice highlights, and we'll have some other fun inclusions. But again, each place that we go to centrally located hotels, we have that free time too. So you can do your own thing or jump on with a group that you've met and have cocktails, Aperol spritzes in the main, Piazza later on. So it it's so fun, but it it really comes back.You register for a trip, but you don't know you're gonna meet some great people. And at at the end of the trip, it's typically these, these people and these, shared experiences come back, and that's where the meaning of the the trip comes in. It's so it's it's so much fun to see them build together.Stephanie Hansen:On each of the trips that I've done with you, we've had solo travelersMichael Kenney:Mhmm.Stephanie Hansen:Which I think people are like, oh, you know, I don't know. I don't have a partner to go with or my friend can't go. And that to me has also been super fun, like the solo travelers and the friends that they've made. And, like, one of the gals I saw from our Asia trip, I saw our friend Annie last night, and she was a solo traveler. Ended up pairing up with Laurie in a room and sharing, actually, actually, which a lot of solo travelers don't wanna share. I get that. But in this case, they both did, and they are like fast friends.Michael Kenney:That I mean, that's that's so much fun to see that. First off, if, you know, we all have it like your maybe your husband or wife or friend they don't want to go but you're like interested in this trip. We get that on all of our trips and we specifically specifically have, several single rooms set aside for those, adventure traveler seekers to have that. So you can pick your own room and go as a single or maybe you want us to to pair you up. We can do that too and get you in contact with another solo traveler like lorian annie did and that typically works out really well too but it's it's I think the like minded people looking for adventures you'll never feel like you're by yourself on any of our trips So, like, oh, I'm a third wheel. Never ever ever. And sometimes that's the best way to travel because you don't have to make sure your traveling partner is having a great time. You only can worry about yourself.Hey. I'm gonna have a great time. And, you know, all of our trip travelers that I've I've ever heard from, they've had a great time going solo, and they meet these like minded people. And, again, all of a sudden, they have friends for a lifetime, like, you know, Lori and Annie did. So if you're you're even thinking about it, like, I'm solo and I'm a little skeptical about going by myself, give us a call. Send us an email. We we can get you your own, room, single, room. They are filling up quick, though.We have a few left, or we can pair you up with somebody too to share that single supplement. But, again, you'll never feel like a third wheel with any of our tours. And this, in addition, just works really, really well for single travelers, and you'll meet some probably good friends on it.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. And, also, like, ladies, some of you I know, like, getting coming out of relationships or divorce, you wanna do something unique. I have someone in my family who are shall remain nameless, who's gonna be joining us, who wanted to get back to Europe, but she's just not in a relationship status that would work for that as the way she thought it was gonna be. So I was like, come with us. Like, we're gonna have a ball. There's men. There's women. You know, my husband has come on some trips, but others, he hasn't.And Mhmm. It's just there's a great mix of people.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. It it it it's great. Now this isn't a singles trip, but maybe you can find Giuseppe at the local cafe. You never know. So you never know. So anyway, yeah, it it works great for whatever status you are in life, single, you know, whatever. It these really, really work really nice.And sometimes, like, my brother came, and we shared a room on our the last trip, and he just wanted to kind of have a experience and get away from, you know, what's going on in life over here and just do a reset. And he came back and said, I'm really recharged. And he's kinda like going into he's retired, and he wants to do something else in his, you know, second part of his life. And he he's going after something right now because he he was able to kinda just disconnect Yeah. And then just take it all in and then kinda come back and, like, let's go. So regardless from relationships to job hunting or whatever, sometimes these trips are great. Even if you go solo, that could even be better.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. Just to get a reset.Can you give us, like, without, like, going into all the detail, like, a high level, not day by day, but just, like, what are the towns we're gonna visit? What are because we're gonna be in, I think, three different areas.Michael Kenney:Yeah. Correct. So if you if you go on our, at definedestinations.com and look at, taste of Sicily Twenty Twenty Five, you can find the day by day, itinerary on that, and you'll get to be able to see through it. But again, it reads like a brochure, and you go through each item. And everything that we mentioned on that, it's, it is included. But the neat thing is we go from the North to the South and then all the way over to the, the East side of the island. So you're really having a great feel for the entire island itself. And, we have three nights in Palermo, and then we have one night in Agrigento, which is at the very southern on the beach, our hotel's right on the beach.You can walk right down there. And even October mid October is a great time to go too because the temperatures are, like, mid seventies, so it's super comfortable. And the water temperature is still pretty nice if you want to jump in. And then we have three nights in Siracoosa. So we we have these, like, kind of, hub and spoke places that we we do our adventures from the but we always come back to our centrally located place. So, anyway, we'll we'll find the Palermo. We have a connection. If you do our included flights, there's no, direct flights from from Minneapolis into Sicily.So we have a connection, on that.Stephanie Hansen:And let me just touch on that because some people want to work with the travel agent to have all of the flight things arranged for them, and that is an option with you. But you also do have options where people can meet you at the destination. So, like, for me, we have a lot of miles that we're always trying to burn up. Yeah. So for us, we book our own airfare so that we can use our miles, and then we sometimes add a few days on at the end, or we might even go to a different destination. With your group travel plans, both of those options are available to people.Michael Kenney:A %. I'm glad you asked that too because, yes, there's people that have miles or if they only wanna stay exclusively with Delta or United or whatever, that's fine. Our trips truly begin and end at at the hotels. With that, we do offer an included group package you can jump on, but the whole group will not be on that flight for sure. It's just an option to do that. And my my team can also, get you, flights separate from that too if you wanted to come early like you said, Stephanie, or stay light. Hey. I wanna go see the Colosseum on this trip.Great. My team can put a pre tour, post tour package together if you want to do that. Or even if you don't want any of our help, that's fine. You can just book our land only. You'll be able to see our group flight numbers on there too so you can kinda coordinate that. But the great thing is that both, airports, in Palermo we fly into, and then we fly out of Catania. They're close to both, towns, so you can easily take an Uber. So it's really pretty easy to get to and from, and that's where the, the the the tour start from.So if you're hesitant, hey. I need to book the group air. Don't worry about that. You don't have to do that by any means. We're happy to help you, on all the other aspects too to to get the airfare, with that. So, yep, we fly into Palermo. We'll settle into our our our three, our centrally located hotel, which is fabulous. Again, remind me that we need to touch on the the hotels too a little bit.Stephanie Hansen:Yep.Michael Kenney:But it's right in the center. We'll do a food tour of one of the local markets. Again, like you mentioned, maybe we have some guests on the trip that could care less about food or wine tastings. It's just a a piece of of our trip. So even if you're, a modest food lover or you only like cornflakes, there's gonna be some fun things to do on this as well. And we find that, you learn a lot about the culture through the food. Yeah. That's the reason we we do part of that too.So it'll be fun regardless. You're going through the markets. You're learning about the foods. Things like that. We go to, the the Cathedral Of Monreali, which, hey. We're seeing another church. We typically don't always do that, but this is really specific. This church is beautiful.It's got, it's it's a massive church built in the twelfth century, and they're famous for all its mosaics. The whole interior, the churches, all these fine mosaics they did almost a thousand years ago. It's unreal. So it's beautiful that we'll be doing that. We'll go to Cefalu, a little, seaside village, which is outside of Palermo a little ways. Maybe you've seen White Lotus. Part of that was filmed there or all parts of the, that, season two was filmed in Sicily. So we'll have a lot of White Lotus moments, as well on that, which which will be a lot of fun.And then from there, we'll be driving after our three nights in, in Palermo. We'll be heading south, crossing the entire, island itself. Absolutely beautiful. Even our coach rides, which aren't a lot, that they're just stunning. And and enjoying the countryside is absolutely beautiful. And we'll be going to that's where Agrigento is, and it feels like you're being stuck in Greece. Like, wow. There's all these Greek ruins, you know, two, three thousand years old.It's like, this is unbelievable. They have some of the better Greek ruins even outside of Athens, which is amazing. So walking through Agrigento, experiencing that, seeing that during the sunset, it's it's it's magical. I use that word a lot, but I think the whole trip really is. And then we we we settle into our hotel right on the beach, which is lovely. And then from there, we'll be going over to Siracusa, which is one of my favorite places ever. My first time I went to Sicily, we didn't go there. And I went back and I said, how do we skip that the first time? Siracoosa is, it's unbelievable.And you've agreed too. We we're staying right in they called it Ortega. That's like the old city of Siracusa. And we're staying right inside the city wall. So our bus will drop our private bus for our group will drop us off, and then we have to walk about ten minutes to our hotel, which is on a small little alleyway. And we'll talk about that later on. But it's a great location that we'll be doing, having different experiences, seeing all the the ruins, walking around at night. It's just beautiful.And from there, we'll be out we'll also be going to see Mount Etna, which is still an active volcano. We'll be on the sides of it. It's unbelievable. All of a sudden, you feel like you're being transported onto the moon. You see the vents and things like that. It's beautiful. And they grow some amazing wines there too on the slopes of it, and we'll be tasting some of those.Stephanie Hansen:That's so cool.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It's it's it's it really is pretty cool, because of that that rich soil just offers great Sicilian wines and the dry and the the elevation. So it it culminates to be really, really good. So, work on your Sicilian, reds. They're they're quite good.Stephanie Hansen:It will be exciting. Yeah.Michael Kenney:No. It it it's great. So I mean, it's it's seven, nights, a nine day trip, in Sicily. You'll have a real good flavor of the city, of all the areas that we visit. So it's it's quite nice. And if you go on the, the website, you'll see all the the inclusions as well. So we include mostly everything that we've talked about. There's really, we don't include all the meals because we want some experiences, for yourself too to go out and go, hey.Michael Kenney:We're gonna go to this little restaurant or whatever. Mhmm. And we have a local guide with us the entire time that will really help, talk about the history, and, you know, what's going on with the people itself, but then just pointing out great restaurants and other little experiences you can doStephanie Hansen:during the free And that's I love that because when we go to some of these places, like, I think I told you my husband is, he's kind of an you know, he's in venture. He always wants to do his own thing. So if we land in a place, he's like, okay. We're gonna take off. We're gonna go do this. We're gonna do that. And, you know, we try to balance, like, doing the group things with also him having his best life and doing some unique, food experiences just on our own. So every everybody gets a little bit of everything.It's a real delightful mix. You've been to Sicily. Now I think this will be, you said, your third time, fourth time?Michael Kenney:Fourth time.Stephanie Hansen:I'm so impressed that you're coming.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I'd well, I can't miss with your groups too. I can't go on all our trips, but this is definitely one I I, notched away because I think, part of me still is in Sicily. There's there's just something about it, and you can't you know, I've been to other parts of Italy plenty of times, and I feel like I'm an Italian, but, there's just something with Sicily. Maybe I meant I meant the grit. I've talked about that. It feels like a real city, real sites, real food, just from the the different markets, the fish markets is just everything seems really authentic.Stephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:That's what I really, really love, and I think the guests do too. I'm I'm just envisioning myself walking and through Palermo with my last group, and there was, like, there was music being played in the streets, and people are sitting down and having glasses of wine. There was no festival going on. It was just this this zest for life thatStephanie Hansen:Yeah. The Italians just in general, they stay up late. They eat late. So they have, like, a happy hour kind of at, like, six to seven, and then they go home and get ready to go out for the dinner time in a lot of cases. So they spend a lot of time outdoors, and they like to do it when it's not in the blazing hot sun. So things really there's a great nightlife. People are, out and about into all hours of the evening, which is fun. So I'm just super excited.So if people wanna join us, you said I mean, I know we've got some rooms booked already. Yeah. So are there some rooms left if people wanna book, and what is the timeline that they should be doing that, and how do they do it?Michael Kenney:Yeah. That's a great question. So I said we have about we can handle maximum of 30 people. So we have about seven rooms up, so about 14 people. So if someone calls and say, well, will this be booked up by next week? It probably won't be, but I always tell people, go ahead, put your deposit down, hold the seat on the trip itself. And you just have to go to definedestinations.com. You can book everything right then then and there. It's super simple process.You just put your your information in. You don't need a valid passport right now to to enter that in. But you just go ahead and you fill that out, put your deposit down, at least then you'll you'll have a, a seat held for you. Then you can work on if you wanna get your own air fryer or if you wanna stay earlier, you know, stay after later on the trip itself. You you can do that all right there as well. So it's pretty simple.Stephanie Hansen:And then once you're booked and we know who's coming, we usually try to have a call to kinda give everybody the particulars of that trip. Sometimes depending on our time frame, we try to get together in person. I wasn't able for the last one because I had so many things coming, and I'm not sure what'll happen with this one because I've got the cookbook coming out, in September. But one way or another, we will see each other's faces, and we will get on that plane, and we will arrive together and have a blast. So I'm looking forward to it, and we've got other trips planned. I know we're trying to book another Croatia trip possibly for the following year for the fall and something in the spring. So if you guys have any destinations you wanna check out with me, let me know. I'm always looking for new places to go. You just went to the Galapagos. It sounded like it was amazing.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It that that was, fabulous. I was just doing a site inspection because we're looking about having groups go to the Galapagos and the Amazon, and it it was it was unreal. I loved it. Completely different experience from going to, to going to Sicily. Well, that's great. There's so many experiences to have on our on the world, and we only have so much time to be able to do those. So you gotta kinda hit that hierarchy of, you know, what's what's important.For anybody that's just thinking about it or if this is the first time you've ever even heard of Sicily, please take a look at this because it is really a magical trip, and we have so many fun inclusions. Our hotel locations are in the city center. I wanted to mention that, not, just because we're on tiny little streets. So you mentioned, like, the the nightlife. It's we're not on a bustling street where all the cars are going by. It's like you feel like you're a local. You'll go out the door, and there's mama Rosita across the street, you know, cutting herStephanie Hansen:Yeah. Sitting outside. Yes.Michael Kenney:That's the experience we want, not just on this trip, all of our trips. We want you to feel like you're kind of a, a local for even three nights when we're there, so you'll know where the the nearest bakery is and, the restaurants. And I think you'll have that on this trip. I it's it's reallyStephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:Something else with all our hotels. You'll absolutely love that. We know exactly where to stay, and sometimes that's overwhelming when you're looking at doing a trip in your own, like, where should I go? What should I where should I stay? Like, it's overwhelming. We want this to be just book the trip. We're gonna be taking care of all the highlights for you.Stephanie Hansen:Pack your bags and come along. Yes.Michael Kenney:Exactly. So that's that's what's really important to us. And IStephanie Hansen:think I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be awesome. I'm gonna release this podcast, not this Friday, but next Friday. So k. Between now and then, you guys, I hope you get your seats booked, and I hope to see you on this amazing trip. Thanks, Michael.Michael Kenney:Wonderful. Thanks, Michael.Stephanie Hansen:It was awesome. It's defined destinations. You can find them at defineddestinations.com. Taste of Italy is right on the front page. Click that, and you can see all the itinerary of the whole trip. And we're gonna have a great time.Michael Kenney:Taste of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Yes. The tasteMichael Kenney:of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Oh, what did I call it? What did I say? Taste ofMichael Kenney:Italy. We have one of those too. Oh, okay. The Sicily one.Stephanie Hansen:Taste of Sicily specifically. Yes. And then if you like Italy, you can go back because there are a lot of places to go back to. Amalfi Coast is great, but it's different. And, like, I there I've been to a lot of different places in Italy, and they're all a little bit different. And I like them all for different reasons. So I'm really excited to explore Sicily.Michael Kenney:Yep. It's gonna be great. Well, thanks so much for the time.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. We'll talk soon.Michael Kenney:Yep.Stephanie Hansen:Bye. Bye bye.Stephanie's Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another exciting episode of "Dishing with Stephanies Dish." In this episode, I am joined by my fellow travel enthusiast, Michael Kenney from Defined Destinations, as we dive into the world of adventurous group travel. Fresh from their trips to Croatia and Asia, they're setting their sights on a new journey to Sicily, Italy. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or a wanderlust-driven explorer, you'll discover the unique experiences that Sicily promises, from breathtaking historic cities to mesmerizing volcanoes and, of course, delectable Italian cuisine. Join Stephanie and the Michaels for a delightful conversation about the joys of traveling with a group, the thrill of meeting new people, and the authentic charm that awaits in Sicily. Whether you're considering joining their next adventure or simply living vicariously through their tales, this episode offers a captivating glimpse into the magic of defined destinations. Let the journey begin!Stephanie Hansen:Hello, everybody. Welcome to the podcast, Dishing with Stephanie's Dish. I hope you're doing great today. I am here with my friend, Michael Kenney, and Michael and I have been traveling together a couple years now. Right, Michael?Michael Kenney:Yeah. We've had, two trips under our belt. So it's, a trip to Croatia and, just recently that Cambodia Vietnam trip. So we've been we've been putting some miles down, Stephanie.Stephanie Hansen:I actually actually was somewhere last night and ran into someone from our trip, and we were comparing our bracelets from when we met the Buddhist monk because both of us still have ours on. Yes.Michael Kenney:Mine, like, just kinda fell apart.Stephanie Hansen:It was such a Oh,Michael Kenney:I woke up in the sun.Stephanie Hansen:Trip. Yes. I'm I'm gonna keep it on as long as I can. It was such a life changing trip. Asia was somewhere that I'd always wanted to go and really didn't have the confidence to do it by myself. So you gave me confidence. Going with other people gave me confidence, and we ended up having such a great time. Pretty good.Stephanie Hansen:I have had another great trip with you. We went to Croatia, and that was an awesome trip. We were on kind of like an exclusive private yacht with, Stan, our tour guide, who was probably one of the best tour guides ever.Michael Kenney:For sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you're going back there to Croatia this summer, aren't you?Michael Kenney:Yeah. Personally, I'm not. I'm gonna have somebody else. I'm a little envious because, yeah, that that trip was straight out of a dream. And, you and your, listeners, followers, they were so much fun.Stephanie Hansen:So Yeah. We did have a good time.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It was great.Stephanie Hansen:So I wanted to podcast with you because people ask me all the time about these trips and, like, how it works and what we do and, you know, like, are you, like, checking people's passports? I'm like, no. Silly. I'm not. But we have a trip coming up to Sicily, a taste of Sicily, which you have so sweetly on your your background there. That's smart. October 14 through the twenty second. And our final payments, I think, are due in June. So we're kind of in the hunt for getting everybody signed up and confirmed.And I wanted to talk with you. I've been to Italy a lot, actually, but I've never been to Sicily. So I'm excited about what that area is gonna be like and you've been. So I thought, alright. Let's just talk a little bit about this and get to know a little bit about how these trips work. So, I like to do trips with people because I like to travel with others. And people always ask me, well, are they food trips? Yes. They are food.Like, we eat food. We enjoy food. We talk about food, but it isn't, like, exclusively a food trip. We know that when you're going to some of these historic destinations that you also wanna see some of the beautiful sites. So we try to mix in some food things like special tastings, special wine events, or special dinners, but we also wanna give you some time to explore the region on your own so that you can go to the restaurants that really appeal to you. And, you know, when you're going with the group, sometimes it's not easy to go to some of these really exclusive special places because you have a larger group. Our group on a trip like this would be, what, would you say, like, less than, like, 26 probably?Michael Kenney:Yeah. It this group size will be anywhere from 20 to 30 maximum on this trip. So it's a real nice, you know, size group for sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you've been to Sicily before. When was the last time you went?Michael Kenney:I was with a group two years ago in Sicily. So I've been there three other times. So just most recently, just two years ago.Stephanie Hansen:And you and I like, I kinda gave you my short list of places. And you asked me about Sicily, and I was like, oh, well, I don't know. I've never really thought about that. And you were like, oh my gosh. It's one of your favorite places in Italy. So tell me what it is that you love about Sicily in particular.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. That that that's a great question. You already mentioned you've been to Italy several times, and we get a lot of people that have been to Italy. And they're like, alright. I've already done that. Or maybe you haven't, you know, seen the the Colosseum and Venice and things like that. Sicily is is Italian, but it's an island in the middle of the Mediterranean.Michael Kenney:So it's just it's it's it's similar, but it's different. I think everything is elevated. Their food, their sites. I mean, the history has a whole Greek, northern the Arabs. It's a Spanish influence in Normans. They've all kinda come to this island in the middle of the the Mediterranean and put, like, their best foods, their their best everything. And it's kinda mixes and makes a Sicilian dish, which is really cool. So it's it's similar, yes, with their pastas and things like that in Mainland Europe, but it's it's a different notch.Michael Kenney:I think it's above, regular standard Italian food. It's just the flavors, the the spices, everything like that is just it's so good. And that's just the food side of it. And then, of course, I already mentioned with with the Greeks in the Spanish and the Normans, they have their own architectures that they brought, a mix of different languages. So you really feel like you're in a whole another country. It says in Italy, but the Sicilians say we're Sicilian first, then we're Italian.Stephanie Hansen:That's funny.Michael Kenney:So it's it's really so different, of an experience on that end. And I even have, a couple of friends going on this trip, and they've never been to Europe before. And they're saying, hey. We're we're gonna join you on this trip because it sounds lovely, but we've never been to Europe. We've never seen the Colosseum, things like that. Like, is this a good trip for us to take? I go, for sure it is. I mean, you don't have these, you know, the Leaning Tower Of Pisa, but once you get get to these places, you'll say, oh my gosh. I mean, a church that's, a thousand years old, or the little villages that are, you know, 500 years old and just oozing with this with charm.So you're really, having this real great Italian Sicilian experience, but maybe not knowing the sites, but it'll kinda resonate even better when you come back and tell your stories. It's just a beautiful, beautiful trip.Stephanie Hansen:And I think, you know, I've been to Rome. I've been to a lot of the little Italian islands on sailing trips with my husband. And we've been to Naples. We've been to Venice. We've been all over, really. And each of Italy has its own uniqueness, but the islands themselves are just something different because you really did get a lot of influences of people coming through and the trading that happened. And they also weren't as involved in the wars because they were sort of moving to the mainland. So you get a lot of different preservation possibilities, and the culture just held up because they weren't impacted by the wars in the same way.Michael Kenney:Exactly. And I think even early on, Sicilians were were very poor as well. So a lot of things just really, held. So they didn't, you know, knock down buildings and build new skyscrapers, things like that. It's like you're being, on the set of The Godfather, which was filmed there too, part of it at least. And, it was, like, set in time, and you're going there and just really experiencing the the feel, the taste, the smell, even you could call, like, the grit of, like, Palermo. I mean, it has this edge to it in a sense, like, this is a real living city. It sound like all spruced up to be perfect, like, on a set, but that's what makes it so so fantastic.It it's it's real. And I don't think you always get that experience that you're in in Central Rome, and they they, you know, it's all beautiful up. Again Palermo and all these cities that will visit are extremely beautiful but it has it's just a different edge to it and every group that I've ever been there with Stephanie if they've come back and said wow this is a dream. Not just the food, the sites, the experiences, the people. The people are real. They're they're fabulous. So it's it's a real real, just an amazing immersion, if you will, to Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:One of the things that people ask me about too, and I'll be honest with you. I'm not really, like, someone that you would think of as a group traveler. I like a certain amount of, alone time. I don't love to have every single thing coordinated for me. My husband, as you know, is a big adventurer and explorer. He's always the first one to do anything crazy on these trips. But it having a group is it's so nice when it's a smaller group like this because you do get to meet new people. You do get to create a community amongst your travelers.And I'll tell you, my friend Laurie Bargini that went on our Asia trip with us, she was very she's a big traveler too, and she was like, I don't know about this group thing. I was like, just give it a try. Like, Asia's a good one to test it out because it's probably a destination you wouldn't go alone. And she signed up right away for Sicily. She was like, I loved the group elements because when I wanted to, I had a group of friends and it was fun and we could hang out together and do fun things, but also when I wanted to be alone, I could do that too. It she thought it added a whole another layer to the travel experience than you just get either with you and your spouse or you and your friends because you have this whole other dynamic of people that for the most part is pretty great.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I know. And I and that's great. And Laurie was great. I'm glad she signed up because on the flight back from Asia, she sat next to me on the flight, and that's a seventeen hour flight. And if she wants to go back, then that that that's great.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. It's good. Well, you know she talked to you the whole time probably.Michael Kenney:No. I tried to again, maybe it's like the group element. You know, have time on, time off. So I'm glad that was brought up. And I've been doing group tours for twenty eight years now, which I I I can't believe. And I I first started getting into tourism because I wanted to see sites. I'm like, I know I can't pay for it, so I need to be a tour guide and and going from that. I didn't realize the whole experience and having shared experiences with others was gonna be my highlight.And to this day, that's my favorite part is going to meet people that I've never met before and going having these shared experiences with. And and sometimes, you know, you build friends for a lifetime off of that.Michael Kinney:I think especially our last group too, we we really, built that with several of the the travelers, which is great. So and I so if you're hesitant, like, well, I'd like to this trip sounds great or any of our trips, but I am kind of worried about that. We really try to balance all our tours out. It's it's it's imperative that we have that balance of, some of the group time to have these, shared experiences to leisure time so that you can go and have your own adventures. And that is so crucial to all of our trips. That's why our hotels, and we can talk about that later, are centrally located. So once we go out and do, say, our city tour, our our our food tour in Palermo and walking around, you'll have, like, the remainder of the day to go explore on your own or some of those new friends that you met. Maybe you can go out and have a glass of wine with them.But again, it's all about that balance. And we each and every itinerary that we put together, we really work on making sure we have that balance in in the trips itself. Because I think that is the success of it. So we don't pack the days all day long on, like, seeing this, this, and this. We give you the nice highlights, and we'll have some other fun inclusions. But again, each place that we go to centrally located hotels, we have that free time too. So you can do your own thing or jump on with a group that you've met and have cocktails, Aperol spritzes in the main, Piazza later on. So it it's so fun, but it it really comes back.You register for a trip, but you don't know you're gonna meet some great people. And at at the end of the trip, it's typically these, these people and these, shared experiences come back, and that's where the meaning of the the trip comes in. It's so it's it's so much fun to see them build together.Stephanie Hansen:On each of the trips that I've done with you, we've had solo travelersMichael Kenney:Mhmm.Stephanie Hansen:Which I think people are like, oh, you know, I don't know. I don't have a partner to go with or my friend can't go. And that to me has also been super fun, like the solo travelers and the friends that they've made. And, like, one of the gals I saw from our Asia trip, I saw our friend Annie last night, and she was a solo traveler. Ended up pairing up with Laurie in a room and sharing, actually, actually, which a lot of solo travelers don't wanna share. I get that. But in this case, they both did, and they are like fast friends.Michael Kenney:That I mean, that's that's so much fun to see that. First off, if, you know, we all have it like your maybe your husband or wife or friend they don't want to go but you're like interested in this trip. We get that on all of our trips and we specifically specifically have, several single rooms set aside for those, adventure traveler seekers to have that. So you can pick your own room and go as a single or maybe you want us to to pair you up. We can do that too and get you in contact with another solo traveler like lorian annie did and that typically works out really well too but it's it's I think the like minded people looking for adventures you'll never feel like you're by yourself on any of our trips So, like, oh, I'm a third wheel. Never ever ever. And sometimes that's the best way to travel because you don't have to make sure your traveling partner is having a great time. You only can worry about yourself.Hey. I'm gonna have a great time. And, you know, all of our trip travelers that I've I've ever heard from, they've had a great time going solo, and they meet these like minded people. And, again, all of a sudden, they have friends for a lifetime, like, you know, Lori and Annie did. So if you're you're even thinking about it, like, I'm solo and I'm a little skeptical about going by myself, give us a call. Send us an email. We we can get you your own, room, single, room. They are filling up quick, though.We have a few left, or we can pair you up with somebody too to share that single supplement. But, again, you'll never feel like a third wheel with any of our tours. And this, in addition, just works really, really well for single travelers, and you'll meet some probably good friends on it.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. And, also, like, ladies, some of you I know, like, getting coming out of relationships or divorce, you wanna do something unique. I have someone in my family who are shall remain nameless, who's gonna be joining us, who wanted to get back to Europe, but she's just not in a relationship status that would work for that as the way she thought it was gonna be. So I was like, come with us. Like, we're gonna have a ball. There's men. There's women. You know, my husband has come on some trips, but others, he hasn't.And Mhmm. It's just there's a great mix of people.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. It it it it's great. Now this isn't a singles trip, but maybe you can find Giuseppe at the local cafe. You never know. So you never know. So anyway, yeah, it it works great for whatever status you are in life, single, you know, whatever. It these really, really work really nice.And sometimes, like, my brother came, and we shared a room on our the last trip, and he just wanted to kind of have a experience and get away from, you know, what's going on in life over here and just do a reset. And he came back and said, I'm really recharged. And he's kinda like going into he's retired, and he wants to do something else in his, you know, second part of his life. And he he's going after something right now because he he was able to kinda just disconnect Yeah. And then just take it all in and then kinda come back and, like, let's go. So regardless from relationships to job hunting or whatever, sometimes these trips are great. Even if you go solo, that could even be better.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. Just to get a reset.Can you give us, like, without, like, going into all the detail, like, a high level, not day by day, but just, like, what are the towns we're gonna visit? What are because we're gonna be in, I think, three different areas.Michael Kenney:Yeah. Correct. So if you if you go on our, at definedestinations.com and look at, taste of Sicily Twenty Twenty Five, you can find the day by day, itinerary on that, and you'll get to be able to see through it. But again, it reads like a brochure, and you go through each item. And everything that we mentioned on that, it's, it is included. But the neat thing is we go from the North to the South and then all the way over to the, the East side of the island. So you're really having a great feel for the entire island itself. And, we have three nights in Palermo, and then we have one night in Agrigento, which is at the very southern on the beach, our hotel's right on the beach.You can walk right down there. And even October mid October is a great time to go too because the temperatures are, like, mid seventies, so it's super comfortable. And the water temperature is still pretty nice if you want to jump in. And then we have three nights in Siracoosa. So we we have these, like, kind of, hub and spoke places that we we do our adventures from the but we always come back to our centrally located place. So, anyway, we'll we'll find the Palermo. We have a connection. If you do our included flights, there's no, direct flights from from Minneapolis into Sicily.So we have a connection, on that.Stephanie Hansen:And let me just touch on that because some people want to work with the travel agent to have all of the flight things arranged for them, and that is an option with you. But you also do have options where people can meet you at the destination. So, like, for me, we have a lot of miles that we're always trying to burn up. Yeah. So for us, we book our own airfare so that we can use our miles, and then we sometimes add a few days on at the end, or we might even go to a different destination. With your group travel plans, both of those options are available to people.Michael Kenney:A %. I'm glad you asked that too because, yes, there's people that have miles or if they only wanna stay exclusively with Delta or United or whatever, that's fine. Our trips truly begin and end at at the hotels. With that, we do offer an included group package you can jump on, but the whole group will not be on that flight for sure. It's just an option to do that. And my my team can also, get you, flights separate from that too if you wanted to come early like you said, Stephanie, or stay light. Hey. I wanna go see the Colosseum on this trip.Great. My team can put a pre tour, post tour package together if you want to do that. Or even if you don't want any of our help, that's fine. You can just book our land only. You'll be able to see our group flight numbers on there too so you can kinda coordinate that. But the great thing is that both, airports, in Palermo we fly into, and then we fly out of Catania. They're close to both, towns, so you can easily take an Uber. So it's really pretty easy to get to and from, and that's where the, the the the tour start from.So if you're hesitant, hey. I need to book the group air. Don't worry about that. You don't have to do that by any means. We're happy to help you, on all the other aspects too to to get the airfare, with that. So, yep, we fly into Palermo. We'll settle into our our our three, our centrally located hotel, which is fabulous. Again, remind me that we need to touch on the the hotels too a little bit.Stephanie Hansen:Yep.Michael Kenney:But it's right in the center. We'll do a food tour of one of the local markets. Again, like you mentioned, maybe we have some guests on the trip that could care less about food or wine tastings. It's just a a piece of of our trip. So even if you're, a modest food lover or you only like cornflakes, there's gonna be some fun things to do on this as well. And we find that, you learn a lot about the culture through the food. Yeah. That's the reason we we do part of that too.So it'll be fun regardless. You're going through the markets. You're learning about the foods. Things like that. We go to, the the Cathedral Of Monreali, which, hey. We're seeing another church. We typically don't always do that, but this is really specific. This church is beautiful.It's got, it's it's a massive church built in the twelfth century, and they're famous for all its mosaics. The whole interior, the churches, all these fine mosaics they did almost a thousand years ago. It's unreal. So it's beautiful that we'll be doing that. We'll go to Cefalu, a little, seaside village, which is outside of Palermo a little ways. Maybe you've seen White Lotus. Part of that was filmed there or all parts of the, that, season two was filmed in Sicily. So we'll have a lot of White Lotus moments, as well on that, which which will be a lot of fun.And then from there, we'll be driving after our three nights in, in Palermo. We'll be heading south, crossing the entire, island itself. Absolutely beautiful. Even our coach rides, which aren't a lot, that they're just stunning. And and enjoying the countryside is absolutely beautiful. And we'll be going to that's where Agrigento is, and it feels like you're being stuck in Greece. Like, wow. There's all these Greek ruins, you know, two, three thousand years old.It's like, this is unbelievable. They have some of the better Greek ruins even outside of Athens, which is amazing. So walking through Agrigento, experiencing that, seeing that during the sunset, it's it's it's magical. I use that word a lot, but I think the whole trip really is. And then we we we settle into our hotel right on the beach, which is lovely. And then from there, we'll be going over to Siracusa, which is one of my favorite places ever. My first time I went to Sicily, we didn't go there. And I went back and I said, how do we skip that the first time? Siracoosa is, it's unbelievable.And you've agreed too. We we're staying right in they called it Ortega. That's like the old city of Siracusa. And we're staying right inside the city wall. So our bus will drop our private bus for our group will drop us off, and then we have to walk about ten minutes to our hotel, which is on a small little alleyway. And we'll talk about that later on. But it's a great location that we'll be doing, having different experiences, seeing all the the ruins, walking around at night. It's just beautiful.And from there, we'll be out we'll also be going to see Mount Etna, which is still an active volcano. We'll be on the sides of it. It's unbelievable. All of a sudden, you feel like you're being transported onto the moon. You see the vents and things like that. It's beautiful. And they grow some amazing wines there too on the slopes of it, and we'll be tasting some of those.Stephanie Hansen:That's so cool.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It's it's it's it really is pretty cool, because of that that rich soil just offers great Sicilian wines and the dry and the the elevation. So it it culminates to be really, really good. So, work on your Sicilian, reds. They're they're quite good.Stephanie Hansen:It will be exciting. Yeah.Michael Kenney:No. It it it's great. So I mean, it's it's seven, nights, a nine day trip, in Sicily. You'll have a real good flavor of the city, of all the areas that we visit. So it's it's quite nice. And if you go on the, the website, you'll see all the the inclusions as well. So we include mostly everything that we've talked about. There's really, we don't include all the meals because we want some experiences, for yourself too to go out and go, hey.Michael Kenney:We're gonna go to this little restaurant or whatever. Mhmm. And we have a local guide with us the entire time that will really help, talk about the history, and, you know, what's going on with the people itself, but then just pointing out great restaurants and other little experiences you can doStephanie Hansen:during the free And that's I love that because when we go to some of these places, like, I think I told you my husband is, he's kind of an you know, he's in venture. He always wants to do his own thing. So if we land in a place, he's like, okay. We're gonna take off. We're gonna go do this. We're gonna do that. And, you know, we try to balance, like, doing the group things with also him having his best life and doing some unique, food experiences just on our own. So every everybody gets a little bit of everything.It's a real delightful mix. You've been to Sicily. Now I think this will be, you said, your third time, fourth time?Michael Kenney:Fourth time.Stephanie Hansen:I'm so impressed that you're coming.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I'd well, I can't miss with your groups too. I can't go on all our trips, but this is definitely one I I, notched away because I think, part of me still is in Sicily. There's there's just something about it, and you can't you know, I've been to other parts of Italy plenty of times, and I feel like I'm an Italian, but, there's just something with Sicily. Maybe I meant I meant the grit. I've talked about that. It feels like a real city, real sites, real food, just from the the different markets, the fish markets is just everything seems really authentic.Stephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:That's what I really, really love, and I think the guests do too. I'm I'm just envisioning myself walking and through Palermo with my last group, and there was, like, there was music being played in the streets, and people are sitting down and having glasses of wine. There was no festival going on. It was just this this zest for life thatStephanie Hansen:Yeah. The Italians just in general, they stay up late. They eat late. So they have, like, a happy hour kind of at, like, six to seven, and then they go home and get ready to go out for the dinner time in a lot of cases. So they spend a lot of time outdoors, and they like to do it when it's not in the blazing hot sun. So things really there's a great nightlife. People are, out and about into all hours of the evening, which is fun. So I'm just super excited.So if people wanna join us, you said I mean, I know we've got some rooms booked already. Yeah. So are there some rooms left if people wanna book, and what is the timeline that they should be doing that, and how do they do it?Michael Kenney:Yeah. That's a great question. So I said we have about we can handle maximum of 30 people. So we have about seven rooms up, so about 14 people. So if someone calls and say, well, will this be booked up by next week? It probably won't be, but I always tell people, go ahead, put your deposit down, hold the seat on the trip itself. And you just have to go to definedestinations.com. You can book everything right then then and there. It's super simple process.You just put your your information in. You don't need a valid passport right now to to enter that in. But you just go ahead and you fill that out, put your deposit down, at least then you'll you'll have a, a seat held for you. Then you can work on if you wanna get your own air fryer or if you wanna stay earlier, you know, stay after later on the trip itself. You you can do that all right there as well. So it's pretty simple.Stephanie Hansen:And then once you're booked and we know who's coming, we usually try to have a call to kinda give everybody the particulars of that trip. Sometimes depending on our time frame, we try to get together in person. I wasn't able for the last one because I had so many things coming, and I'm not sure what'll happen with this one because I've got the cookbook coming out, in September. But one way or another, we will see each other's faces, and we will get on that plane, and we will arrive together and have a blast. So I'm looking forward to it, and we've got other trips planned. I know we're trying to book another Croatia trip possibly for the following year for the fall and something in the spring. So if you guys have any destinations you wanna check out with me, let me know. I'm always looking for new places to go. You just went to the Galapagos. It sounded like it was amazing.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It that that was, fabulous. I was just doing a site inspection because we're looking about having groups go to the Galapagos and the Amazon, and it it was it was unreal. I loved it. Completely different experience from going to, to going to Sicily. Well, that's great. There's so many experiences to have on our on the world, and we only have so much time to be able to do those. So you gotta kinda hit that hierarchy of, you know, what's what's important.For anybody that's just thinking about it or if this is the first time you've ever even heard of Sicily, please take a look at this because it is really a magical trip, and we have so many fun inclusions. Our hotel locations are in the city center. I wanted to mention that, not, just because we're on tiny little streets. So you mentioned, like, the the nightlife. It's we're not on a bustling street where all the cars are going by. It's like you feel like you're a local. You'll go out the door, and there's mama Rosita across the street, you know, cutting herStephanie Hansen:Yeah. Sitting outside. Yes.Michael Kenney:That's the experience we want, not just on this trip, all of our trips. We want you to feel like you're kind of a, a local for even three nights when we're there, so you'll know where the the nearest bakery is and, the restaurants. And I think you'll have that on this trip. I it's it's reallyStephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:Something else with all our hotels. You'll absolutely love that. We know exactly where to stay, and sometimes that's overwhelming when you're looking at doing a trip in your own, like, where should I go? What should I where should I stay? Like, it's overwhelming. We want this to be just book the trip. We're gonna be taking care of all the highlights for you.Stephanie Hansen:Pack your bags and come along. Yes.Michael Kenney:Exactly. So that's that's what's really important to us. And IStephanie Hansen:think I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be awesome. I'm gonna release this podcast, not this Friday, but next Friday. So k. Between now and then, you guys, I hope you get your seats booked, and I hope to see you on this amazing trip. Thanks, Michael.Michael Kenney:Wonderful. Thanks, Michael.Stephanie Hansen:It was awesome. It's defined destinations. You can find them at defineddestinations.com. Taste of Italy is right on the front page. Click that, and you can see all the itinerary of the whole trip. And we're gonna have a great time.Michael Kenney:Taste of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Yes. The tasteMichael Kenney:of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Oh, what did I call it? What did I say? Taste ofMichael Kenney:Italy. We have one of those too. Oh, okay. The Sicily one.Stephanie Hansen:Taste of Sicily specifically. Yes. And then if you like Italy, you can go back because there are a lot of places to go back to. Amalfi Coast is great, but it's different. And, like, I there I've been to a lot of different places in Italy, and they're all a little bit different. And I like them all for different reasons. So I'm really excited to explore Sicily.Michael Kenney:Yep. It's gonna be great. Well, thanks so much for the time.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. We'll talk soon.Michael Kenney:Yep.Stephanie Hansen:Bye. Bye bye.Stephanie's Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

How We Seeez It! Episode 278 The White Lotus Season 2 “They have a twisted relationship, and we are fine.” Harper Spiller. Power is the goal and sex is the currency. Well maybe not completely, but in some cases that is what we see as Season 2 stories involve a lot of different aspects of how sex can play a part in the lives of many. Compared to season 1, a much different look at the players in the stories we follow. All in all, another great show from Mike White.  We cover our thoughts on it and there is so much to talk about in this one, so join us for the discussion and don't forget about our cocktails for this episode. Should be some good ones.         As always, mix a drink, have a listen, and let us know what you think. Or if there is something you watched that we might enjoy or a can't miss series. Also please rate and review show on all your favorite podcast apps. “The Fool Reversed” 1½ oz Devil's River Agave Bourbon ½ oz Sirene Amaro ½ oz The Walking Fool Red Blend ½ oz Banana Liqueur 2 dashes Chocolate Bitters Orange peel   “Aperol spritz “ 3 oz  Prosecco  2 oz  Aperol Splash sparkling grapefruit juice   Show links. HWSI LinkTree HWSI Facebook Link  HWSI Instagram Link HWSI Youtube link !!  You can also email the Podcast at the.HWSI.podcast@gmail.com

Join Khloé Kardashian each week for intimate conversations with the people who inspire her the most. Each episode dives deep into relatable and thought-provoking topics, offering a mix of humor, insight, and real-life stories. Whether it's about navigating life's challenges, celebrating triumphs, or finding humor in the everyday, this series delivers the kind of real talk that stays with you long after you've listened.New episodes drop every Wednesday on X and Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts.Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is back in Atlanta after a great show in Raleigh and then being a guest on Adam Ray's Dr. Phil Live in Atlanta. Like everyone else, she has been attacked by the insane pollen that is plaguing the south, but she is rejoicing with some amazing news she received this past week! She gets back to the voicemails from all of you!Episode Sponsors:Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off any order! Enjoy free shipping when you subscribe. Go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOTGIFT.Visit Carawayhome.com/ABSOLUTELY you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.Go to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.To explore coverage, visit ASPCAPetInsurance.com/absolutely.Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code ABSOLUTELY at Nuuly.comHead over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather welcomes Boho Britt and Amber from Salty Locks Extensions and Studio 285. Heather believes that being close to your glam team is one of the most important things you can cultivate and these two sisters have truly become part of the family. They chat about a ChatGPT boyfriend, catchphrases and even quantum physics. They are two business baddies that will also be joining the crew on the Absolutely Knot.Episode Sponsors:Listeners of Absolutely Not can claim an exclusive three-month free trial, with no credit card required at www.YNAB.com/absolutelyAG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out DrinkAG1.com/absolutely to get this offerVisit JustThriveHealth.com and use code ABSOLUTELY for 20% off your first 90 day bottle.Head to http://primalkitchen.com/absolutelynotpodcast to save 20% off your next online order with code ABSOLUTELY at checkoutHead over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Save big during their Winter Savings event – Schedule your free consultation now at SonoBello.com/ABSOLUTELYProduced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is back in Atlanta after a fantastic weekend of birthday shows in the DMV. She had a hell of a time celebrating her 38th with the shows at Capitol One Hall and partying with her friends there. She makes a plea for Tatte to come to Atlanta. She discusses how the vibes are in DC and explains who her new favorite southern auntie Doctor is. She takes your voicemails about burnt grundles, solo dates, and how the Heather 911 is sometimes a force for good!Episode Sponsors:Head to https://www.squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ABSOLUTELY.Use code ABSOLUTELY15 for 15% off your first purchase at LumeDeodorant.com. Go to Quince.com/absolutely for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOT.Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/absolutely today.Head over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is back in Atlanta and taking some time for herself after having a small breakdown on International Women's Day. She is changing her attitude and putting positive energy towards her goals. She recaps the end of her week at the Today Show and the hard sleep on her flight to LA that has caused her to spiral. She takes on the voicemails and provides her best advice on how to VIBE OUT on the Bamboozled Tour and the Absolutely Knot Cruise.Episode Sponsors:Visit Carawayhome.com/ABSOLUTELYNOT or use code ABSOLUTELYNOT at checkout.Start earning points on rent you're already paying by going to joinbilt.com/ABSOLUTELY.Head over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Shop SKIMS best intimates including the Fits Everybody Collection and more at SKIMS.com and SKIMS stores.To help you kickstart a health plan that truly works, Prolon is offering Absolutely Not listeners 15% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Nutrition Program at ProlonLife.com/ABSOLUTELYVisit JustThriveHealth.com and use code ABSOLUTELY for 20% off your first 90 day bottle. That's like getting a month for free!Listeners of Absolutely Not can claim an exclusive three-month free trial, with no credit card required at www.YNAB.com/absolutely.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is in the NYC studio with comedian Sam Morril. Sam is currently touring the US with his own “Errors Tour”. Heather and Sam get into life on the road as touring comics. Sam has chosen to ride on a sleeper bus and eat halal, but just like Heather has back issues and also loves a steakhouse and a martini. Episode Sponsors:Right now, ABSOLUTELY NOT listeners can save 30% on their first order! Just head to CornbreadHemp.com/ABSOLUTELY and use code ABSOLUTELY at checkout.For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOT.This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ABSOLUTELY and get on your way to being your best self.Right now, OpenPhone is offering 20% off of your first 6 months when you go to OpenPhone.com/ABSOLUTELY.Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/absolutely today.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is in NYC to co-host the Today Show and so excited to give you a behind the scenes look into the start of her week with Jenna Bush Hager. We find out who her work crush is at the studio and how she took Jenna out on the town to a gay country bar. She also touches on the previous week in Iowa where there was a missed connection or a case of mistaken identity at a Walgreens full of Cookie Monster pajamas.Episode Sponsors:Go to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Listeners of Absolutely Not can claim an exclusive three-month free trial, with no credit card required at www.YNAB.com/absolutely.Visit JustThriveHealth.com and use code ABSOLUTELY for 20% off your first 90 day bottle.Head over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Shop SKIMS best intimates including the Fits Everybody Collection and more at SKIMS.com and SKIMS stores.Try VIIA! https://viia.co/ABSOLUTELY and use code ABSOLUTELY!Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is in Vegas for The Bamboozled Tour and is coming to you live from her hotel room at the Venetian. She also welcomes her writing partner and special director, Jen Zaborowski, to the pod. They chat about Jen coming out on the road and how a tour stop in Vegas just hits different. They discuss barrel vs boot cut jeans, Glen Powell, Hollywood parties and who will be vacay besties on the Absolutely Knot cruise.Episode Sponsors:For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code ABSOLUTELYNOT.Give yourself the luxury you deserve with Quince! Go to Quince.com/absolutely for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to Thuma.co/ABSOLUTELY.Right now, our listeners get 15% off the Premium Starter Kit by using code ABSOLUTELY at BranchBasics.comIf you visit Carawayhome.com/ABSOLUTELYNOT you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get 15% off with promo code ABSOLUTELY15 at Lumedeodorant.com!Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is back in Atlanta after an amazing time in Alabama opening up the Bamboozled Tour. She chats about the amazing audience members and how some of her controversial material played on the crowds. She brings up all of the Super Bowl drama and how we need to leave Taylor alone. She gets to voicemails and realizes we are all doing too much!!Episode Sponsors:Go to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Listeners of Absolutely Not can claim an exclusive three-month free trial, with no credit card required at www.YNAB.com/absolutely.Visit JustThriveHealth.com and use code ABSOLUTELY for 20% off your first 90 day bottle.Right now, OpenPhone is offering 20% off of your first 6 months when you go to OpenPhone.com/ABSOLUTELYSave big during their Winter Savings event - schedule your free consultation now at Sonobello.com/absolutely.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather is back on her power walks and trying to get her mornings off to a great start. She has her weighted vest on and is pumping up tunes from this year's Grammy winners. She was motivated by online haters on Reddit that caused her to spiral. She is excited to get back on the road and start trying out new bits which she got to test out on a secret group of corporate girlies this past week. She got a few days to sip on painkillers, listen to some steel drums and reminisce about the life of Jimmy Buffett. She takes on the voicemails of yes's and no's. Episode Sponsors: Right now, Not listeners can save 30% on their first order! Just head to cornbreadhemp.com and use code at checkout.AG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out DrinkAG1.com/absolutely to get this offer! This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ABSOLUTELY and get on your way to being your best self.Head over to Addyi's website — Addyi.com — and see if Addyi is right for you.Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/absolutely.To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to Thuma.com/absolutely. Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, Heather was excited to share her vision board but mishaps with some vino leads her to verbalize it. We learn about her hopes and dreams for the upcoming year, as well as a traumatizing past job opportunity that has left a mark on how she navigates life. She goes over the newest activities happening on the Absolutely Knot cruise and gives hints as to what will happen on the Bamboozled Tour. She then takes on your voicemails!Episode Sponsors:Start earning points with the Bilt Mastercard by going to joinbilt.com/ABSOLUTELY.Head to https://www.squarespace.com/ABSOLUTELY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ABSOLUTELY.Listeners of Absolutely Not can claim an exclusive three-month free trial, with no credit card required at www.YNAB.com/absolutely.Visit JustThriveHealth.com and use code ABSOLUTELY for 20% off your first 90 day bottle.Visit Carawayhome.com/ABSOLUTELYNOT you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.If you're 21+, check out viiahemp.com and use the code ABSOLUTELY to receive 15% off AND if you're new to VIIA - get a free gift of your choice. Right now, our listeners get 15% off their entire order by using code at BranchBasics.com.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.