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Shhh, don't tell anyone!

Don't Forget About Ignite!  https://fitwomensweekly.com/lp/fww-live/ignite-30/ Ignite now includes meal prep help! Stop the food noise with meals that slap and workouts that are the perfect dose of training! 0:00 Intro  0:41 You're Being Too Aggressive 1:00 How To Back Off But Still See Results 1:27 Make Food More Appetizing 3:00 Are Your Meals Big? 3:47 How To Recovery To Avoid Cravings 4:10 Workouts - How Should You Workout? 5:30 Why Food Noise Is Expected - It Won't Go Away Completely 6:41 Help A Trainer Out Treat FWW With A Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/fitwomensweekly IG: https://www.instagram.com/kindalboylefitness/  Email: Kindal@fitwomensweekly.com  YT: https://www.youtube.com/@Fit-Womens-Weekly  TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@trainerkindal 

Poetry and baring the soul.Based on a post by Jorunn, in 4 parts. Listen to the ►Podcast at Connected.Arriving at her house, Leah and I carried my clothes up to the spare bedroom. I thanked Leah once again, then kissed her.Leah softly whispered, “Jorunn is downstairs!”I replied in the same whisper, “Then kiss me quietly.” And she did.I spent the remainder of the day doing my laundry, once Leah showed me how to use her Norwegian washing machine. Leah opened the clothes drying rack, and when done, I laid my clothes out to dry.For dinner, Leah prepared salmon fillets with boiled potatoes. As Jorunn and Leah washed the dishes, I sat on the center seat of the sofa, reflecting on the day. When they finished, both Jorunn and Leah rushed into the living room, extremely excited, and sat down on either side of me. Jorunn turned on the television and switched to Norwegian National Television. I wondered what the fuss was about.“Five more minutes,” yelped Jorunn.After a brief introduction, an old black-and-white movie started. Both Jorunn and Leah snuggled up tight against me and I put my arms around them. It felt great. The show, called “Dinner for One”, featured a 90-year-old countess celebrating her birthday. She invited four friends but outlived them all. Her butler decides to impersonate each of the four missing guests. As he slips into each of the roles, he drinks a toast, and quickly becomes intoxicated, leading to numerous sight gags. It felt good to laugh along with people again. It was rather short, and when it ended, Leah told me it was the most repeated television show of all time and is quite popular in Scandinavian countries and northern Europe.Leah and Jorunn went around rearranging and straightening Christmas decorations, then announced it was time to make Julekurver. I heard of them, but never actually made one. Made of paper, they are heart-shaped and filled with sweets.We quickly cleared the dining room table, then covered it with red and white paper, a plastic rule, a plastic circle, and scissor. Leah and Jorunn both moved quickly, folding a sheet of paper of each color, and I followed their action. Then it was time to measure and cut, and fortunately, they slowed down to allow me to keep up. Using a circle, we marked a half circle and cut the excess away. Then cut strips into the paper, not going all the way across. We wove the red and white papers together in a checkerboard pattern and unfolded them into a perfect heart shape. I thought the process rather inefficient and decided to show off my engineering skills from 3M by making a fancier one. As I unfolded it, Jorunn and Leah laughed, and a moment later, I discovered one way not to make a Julekurver.After a long and active day, I was tired, so I went to bed. Both Jorunn and Leah were talking softly in the living room as I drifted off to sleep.A nocturnal visitorDecember 23rd - Just Before MidnightI was startled awake when I heard my bedroom door close, followed by a soft, “Shush!”I listened closely in the total darkness for footsteps and heard someone approach my bed. Leah must be ready to resume what we started back at the hotel! A hand pulled back the covers, and instinctively I slid toward the middle of the bed to make space. Leah slid in next to me and drew the covers back over us.Leah moved and shifted, and a hand found the back of my head. I expected her lips to follow, and they did. Soft and gentle, a wonderful way for my nocturnal visitor to say hello. Leah told me at the hotel she did not want to feel rushed, so there was no urgency. Her lips retreated, and her hand slid down to caress my cheek, as delicate fingers gently stroked me.I reached out and found her left shoulder as Leah faced me, then marveled at the smoothness as my hand traced her arm downward. Approaching her hand, I extended further to touch her hip. I began softly rubbing, but her ass beckoned, and my hand moved to cup and squeeze her firm cheek. My fingers began shooting sensations of warmth, softness, and inner firmness directly to my brain. I pulled Leah tight against me and discovered she was already completely naked.Leah swung her left leg over me and moved to an upright position, straddling my crotch. Beneath my boxer shorts, my erect cock fought for release. Her hand found my cock within its shelter but did not liberate it. Instead, her hand pushed my cock flat against my lower stomach, and she slid forward, trapping it with the swollen outer lips of her pussy. Leah began slowly gyrating, and even through the fabric of my boxers, I felt her pussy lips spreading as they slid along either side of my hidden cock.The hushed sounds of Leah cooing and moaning barely reached my ears, as dampness built between us. I reached up with both hands, found her small breasts, and used my thumbs to tease her nipples to an erection. A heavy breath followed by a long ‘uh. Oh; Ah!’ brought me close to premature orgasm, but this was not what Leah wanted, so I held back.Leah must have sensed I was close. She stopped gyrating, lifted herself, and then began inching herself up my torso. She paused for a moment and sat on my chest, then her hands reached out to touch my face. Two fingertips began touring my facial features as if Leah wanted to memorize every feature of my face. In the darkness, my senses heightened, her fingers swirled, and circled, and glided over me. I never would have imagined how erotic it felt.Leah resumed moving higher, her knees passing over my shoulders until they rested on either side of my head. I reached up to confirm what lay just inches above my face and grazed the same hairy splendor I sampled back at the hotel. Inhaling deeply, I picked up traces of the same body wash on her thighs. I was ready to dive back in, so I reached up and grabbed Leah’s hips, then pulled her pussy down toward my awaiting tongue. I paused as her short curly hair began painting her scent onto my face. The scent of arousal overpowered my senses. But? Something strange? I froze. The contradiction awoke my twilight dream state.“Why did you stop, Gunnar?” From the darkness came Jorunn’s voice! The dream of Leah's nocturnal visit was replaced by the reality of a beautiful young woman revealing her devotion and desire to this 56 year old guy.I was stunned. I couldn’t reveal the real reason I stopped; was uncertainty. Jorunn’s pussy smelled different than Leah’s! I hadn’t noticed any difference between Leah’s and Jorunn’s tall, fit bodies. If there were any, they were undetectable in the darkness, especially with only my brief exposure to Leah. “I can’t do this with you, Jorunn.” I softly and sincerely spoke.“I want to make love to you tonight, Gunnar. More than anything in the world. Am I not pretty enough? Has not enough time passed since your wife’s funeral? You are the only man in the world I can love to, without fear of being hurt.”“Jorunn, you are an incredibly beautiful woman. For months, I fantasized about holding you in my arms, kissing you, and wishing to be exactly where I am now. But yesterday, I met your mother.”Jorunn asked, “Did she order you not to have sex with me?”I replied, “It’s not that. I think I’m falling in love with Leah. We spent a wonderful day together, and she swept me off my feet. If that love turns out to be mutual, I am prepared to pledge my heart totally to her and her alone. A lifetime commitment, one I will never dishonor. The only reason you and I got this far tonight is that in the darkness and my dream state, I thought you were Leah. I never would have done it otherwise.” But you are a lovely and desirable woman. I respect you and Leah. So much that I cannot be false to either of you. And I cannot dishonor myself, by doing what I know is dishonorable.”Jorunn shifted positions and lay next to me in the bed. In the darkness, Jorunn whispered, “You are so unlike my father. He always put himself first. I was ready to give myself to you tonight. You could have kept quiet and let it happen. Then lied about it to my mother in the morning. But you didn’t. You are a better man than my father ever was, and I know you will make my mother happy. Please don’t be afraid to give her, and yourself, a chance. She really needs someone like you in her life.”I heard a soft sob and reached out to touch Jorunn’s face. She was crying. Jorunn came into my bedroom tonight, looking for someone to love. She didn’t know about Leah and me, or what happened between us at the hotel. I very much doubt her mother would have told her. I admired what Jorunn just did. She was sacrificing her chance at love so that her mother might have one. Jorunn knew that she bore the duty to initiate affection, after so harshly rejecting my romantic advances, last week.Silence followed, before Jorunn finally said, “What you have shown me, Gunnar, is that there are still good men in this world. But I am still afraid to look for them.”I thought back to the day Jorunn and I went sledging. “Remember what you told me at Korketrekkeren? You don’t need to be afraid of looking for a man, Jorunn. What you need to be afraid of is being too afraid to try looking for a man. Promise me that you will push off, just like riding a sledge, and start looking. When you reach the bottom of that scary hill, you will no longer be afraid, and someone you love will be waiting there for you.”“I will, Gunnar. I promise. And thank you.” Jorunn climbed out of my bed and closed the door as she left.Christmas EveDecember 24 - MorningI woke up in the guest room bed. Hearing noises and holiday folk music in the kitchen, I dressed and went downstairs. Leah smiled and said, “God Jul!”, Norwegian's way of saying merry Christmas. Then she made me scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Afterward, I enjoyed a slice of fruited Christmas Cake with coffee.“Leah, there is something I need to tell you. Jorunn came into my room last night looking for a man to love. In the darkness and my dream state, I thought it was you. It took a moment for me to realize it was Jorunn, and I stopped myself before going too far. Jorunn and I talked, and I confessed my love for you, to her. She understood, and asked that I give that love a chance. I want to do that. I asked Jorunn to no longer be afraid to look for love, and she agreed.”“Thank you for telling me, Gunnar. I have struggled to get Jorunn to go on dates after her father hurt her so badly. You must be a special man to find a place in her heart.”Leah sat down at the table with me, and continued; “I trust Jorunn, and now I trust you. So you will know, I will come to you tonight, bearing a lighted candle.”I said, “That sounds romantic.” My cock jolted to attention, under my trousers. I smiled and winked.Leah replied, “Wait until you see what I will be wearing.” She stood and returned to her baking, as the soft holiday music filled the busy kitchen. Leah's hips softly gyrated to the soft beat as she hummed with the lyrics.Jorunn came down later for breakfast, and after eating, she announced she would be working on edits and voiceovers for her recent videos. Since they were related to Christmas, she wanted to finish them to post them later tonight.Just before lunch, Leah led me back to the television and as we snuggled on the couch, she turned on “Tre Notter til Askepott”, a 1973 Czech reenactment of Cinderella, dubbed into Norwegian. The story was familiar, with Cinderella granted three wishes. It was enjoyable, but the dubbed dialog did not quite match the lips of the actors, so I needed to concentrate on what they were saying. Leah mentioned that this show is so popular in Norway, that storms of protest arose one year when they decided not to broadcast it. They ended up sending it out later in the holiday.Jorunn joined Leah and me for lunch. We ate Risengrynsgrot, which is rice porridge cooked with milk, sugar, and vanilla. We each had a bowl, and hiding in one of the three bowls was an almond. I suspected possible cheating such that I would be the one getting the almond, but as it turned out, Jorunn got the lucky bowl. As her prize, Leah gave Jorunn a chocolate-covered marzipan pig, an oddity for certain, but part of the tradition. There was porridge left over, and Leah said she would use it to make Riskrem, the delicious rice dessert eaten after tonight’s dinner. Solveig’s Riskrem was one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, and I was looking forward to tasting Leah’s.Leah turned to me and said, “If you want to eat, you must help in the kitchen.”Cooking was not something I knew very well, and after Leah led me into the kitchen, I let her know that. But since we were alone, I moved behind her, pulled her blonde hair aside, and nuzzled her neck.Leah said, “If you don’t stop, Gunnar, it will take longer before we eat.” But she wiggled her hips into my crotch before spinning out of my embrace.I helped Leah remove a large roasting pan from the refrigerator and put it in the oven. “That’s a strange-looking piece of meat,” I said.Leah replied, “It is called Ribbe, or roasted pork belly. It is one of the most popular Christmas meals in Norway. I scored the fat layer on top two days ago into a checkerboard pattern. Once cooked, the bottom meat stays tender while the cracklings on top get crispy.”Leah handed me a vegetable peeler and pointed to a bag of potatoes. I needed no further instructions on this. While I worked, Leah flittered around the kitchen, preparing the side dishes. She looked genuinely happy, and we talked and laughed and told tales of Christmases long ago.Just as we pulled the Ribbe from the oven, church bells began ringing from multiple sources. It was 17:00.“It seems like an odd time for church bells,” I said.Leah replied, “In Scandinavia, a new day traditionally starts at sundown, not midnight. Following the old ways, Christmas Day has arrived. It is time to eat.”Jorunn joined us in the mad flurry of activity as places were set, and food moved from the kitchen to the dining room. On the table was Ribbe, boiled potatoes, meatballs, gravy, sausages, sauerkraut, prunes, and lingonberries. Leah poured each of us a tall glass of juleøl, a dark spiced ale, brewed during Christmas all over Norway. She said at one time, a Norwegian king made it illegal to Not brew Christmas Ale. Everything was delicious, and I ate until I could stuff in no more.After dinner, we cleaned up and went into the living room to enjoy coffee, cookies, and a small bowl of Riskrem. I wondered why Leah brought out four bowls of Riskrem. Three topped with whipped cream and a berry sauce, one with only a blob of butter in the middle.Leah said, “We set out a bowl of porridge every Christmas for the fjøsnissen. The tradition evolved from the days when farming families would offer porridge to their barn elf, or nisse. The nisse takes care of the animals in the barn during winter so they don’t get sick. If you don’t do this, the fjøsnissen will play tricks on you.”As we nibbled, Jorunn set the bowl of porridge outside the front door for the fjøsnissen. Then we sat and watched an American Christmas movie on television. After it ended, Leah announced it was time to open the presents. I suspected this would happen and was glad I bought a gift for both Leah and Jorunn. We each dispersed, returned with our packages, and placed them under the Christmas tree.As expected, Leah and Jorunn shared the most gifts for each other, opening the usual mix of chocolates, clothing, and kitchen items. Then Jorunn handed me a gift from her. I opened it and found a DVD labeled, 'Christmas in Norway Tour’, along with a link and instructions to download the video if I preferred. Jorunn told me she made an hour-long video of all the things we did together over the past week, adding music and voiceovers so I would remember the now-completed tour. In exceedingly small letters, at the bottom of the instructions, I saw a link for a story with a similar name and suspected it might be one full of adjectives.Jorunn then opened my gift to her. I remembered the small camera she used this past week and bought her a new top-of-the-line digital camera. From her reaction, I did well.Leah then opened my gift to her. I purchased a genuinely nice Advent star to hang in her window, since she did not have one. It was large and electrically lit and after opening it, she wanted to hang it up right away, which we did. Then we went outside to see how it looked. Leah kissed me and whispered that the Advent Star possessed a special meaning for her this year, a sign of brighter days ahead.Seeing us standing outside, a Julenissen crossed the street and came up to us. The man, dressed in a red jacket with a matching pointed red hat, carried a cloth sack. He was older, and his white beard looked genuine.Jorunn yelled, “God Jul, Julenissen!”As the Julenissen joined us, Leah said, “Nice to see you again, Mr. Bjornstad.”The Julenissen opened a small cloth sack, pulled out a straw goat wrapped with red ribbons, and handed it to Jorunn. Leah explained that the Julenissen come around to houses on Christmas Eve to hand out presents and chocolate to the children. Often, more than one Julenissen would knock on your door during the evening. Unlike America, children get to meet the Julenissen in Norway.“It wouldn’t be the same this year without one of your julebukk!” said an excited Jorunn. Mr. Bjornstad had been coming to Jorunn’s house for a long time, and told us he likes to keep alive the old Norse traditions, such as the julebukk. In addition to handing out hand-made gifts, he tells folklore stories and tales from the days of the Vikings. What a wonderful thing to do to preserve the ancient Norse legacy of sagas and storytelling.Leah excused herself as Mr. Bjornstad started telling such a tale to Jorunn and me. He described Valhalla, where Odin and the brave warriors would train by day, and feast on roast boar and ale at night. Leah returned a moment later with four glasses of Aquavit. We toasted the season and sipped our Aquavit with the Julenissen after the story ended. We then sang a Christmas song together.Then we went back inside and watched the DVD that Jorunn made. The tour sounded exciting and full of fun, which indeed, it was. It also gave Leah another chance to see me in action. It was a full evening, and close to 23:00 when the DVD ended. We were all tired, and it was time for bed. Jorunn told us she was going upstairs to take a shower. Leah and I followed her up to our two bedrooms.A Single CandleDecember 24th - Late EveningFive minutes later, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Opening it, Leah stood there, holding a single candle, and wearing a lavender-colored silk nightgown and robe set. The half-sleeve wrap robe only partially covered her nightgown, leaving the lace-trimmed bustline and hem of her nightgown exposed. She put a finger to her mouth and whispered, “Shhh!” Then she led me by hand to her bedroom. The only light inside came from her single candle.My eyes quickly adjusted, or perhaps it was just my intent stare, “You look incredible.”Leah

Poetry and baring the soul.Based on a post by Jorunn, in 4 parts. Listen to the ►Podcast at Connected.Arriving at her house, Leah and I carried my clothes up to the spare bedroom. I thanked Leah once again, then kissed her.Leah softly whispered, “Jorunn is downstairs!”I replied in the same whisper, “Then kiss me quietly.” And she did.I spent the remainder of the day doing my laundry, once Leah showed me how to use her Norwegian washing machine. Leah opened the clothes drying rack, and when done, I laid my clothes out to dry.For dinner, Leah prepared salmon fillets with boiled potatoes. As Jorunn and Leah washed the dishes, I sat on the center seat of the sofa, reflecting on the day. When they finished, both Jorunn and Leah rushed into the living room, extremely excited, and sat down on either side of me. Jorunn turned on the television and switched to Norwegian National Television. I wondered what the fuss was about.“Five more minutes,” yelped Jorunn.After a brief introduction, an old black-and-white movie started. Both Jorunn and Leah snuggled up tight against me and I put my arms around them. It felt great. The show, called “Dinner for One”, featured a 90-year-old countess celebrating her birthday. She invited four friends but outlived them all. Her butler decides to impersonate each of the four missing guests. As he slips into each of the roles, he drinks a toast, and quickly becomes intoxicated, leading to numerous sight gags. It felt good to laugh along with people again. It was rather short, and when it ended, Leah told me it was the most repeated television show of all time and is quite popular in Scandinavian countries and northern Europe.Leah and Jorunn went around rearranging and straightening Christmas decorations, then announced it was time to make Julekurver. I heard of them, but never actually made one. Made of paper, they are heart-shaped and filled with sweets.We quickly cleared the dining room table, then covered it with red and white paper, a plastic rule, a plastic circle, and scissor. Leah and Jorunn both moved quickly, folding a sheet of paper of each color, and I followed their action. Then it was time to measure and cut, and fortunately, they slowed down to allow me to keep up. Using a circle, we marked a half circle and cut the excess away. Then cut strips into the paper, not going all the way across. We wove the red and white papers together in a checkerboard pattern and unfolded them into a perfect heart shape. I thought the process rather inefficient and decided to show off my engineering skills from 3M by making a fancier one. As I unfolded it, Jorunn and Leah laughed, and a moment later, I discovered one way not to make a Julekurver.After a long and active day, I was tired, so I went to bed. Both Jorunn and Leah were talking softly in the living room as I drifted off to sleep.A nocturnal visitorDecember 23rd - Just Before MidnightI was startled awake when I heard my bedroom door close, followed by a soft, “Shush!”I listened closely in the total darkness for footsteps and heard someone approach my bed. Leah must be ready to resume what we started back at the hotel! A hand pulled back the covers, and instinctively I slid toward the middle of the bed to make space. Leah slid in next to me and drew the covers back over us.Leah moved and shifted, and a hand found the back of my head. I expected her lips to follow, and they did. Soft and gentle, a wonderful way for my nocturnal visitor to say hello. Leah told me at the hotel she did not want to feel rushed, so there was no urgency. Her lips retreated, and her hand slid down to caress my cheek, as delicate fingers gently stroked me.I reached out and found her left shoulder as Leah faced me, then marveled at the smoothness as my hand traced her arm downward. Approaching her hand, I extended further to touch her hip. I began softly rubbing, but her ass beckoned, and my hand moved to cup and squeeze her firm cheek. My fingers began shooting sensations of warmth, softness, and inner firmness directly to my brain. I pulled Leah tight against me and discovered she was already completely naked.Leah swung her left leg over me and moved to an upright position, straddling my crotch. Beneath my boxer shorts, my erect cock fought for release. Her hand found my cock within its shelter but did not liberate it. Instead, her hand pushed my cock flat against my lower stomach, and she slid forward, trapping it with the swollen outer lips of her pussy. Leah began slowly gyrating, and even through the fabric of my boxers, I felt her pussy lips spreading as they slid along either side of my hidden cock.The hushed sounds of Leah cooing and moaning barely reached my ears, as dampness built between us. I reached up with both hands, found her small breasts, and used my thumbs to tease her nipples to an erection. A heavy breath followed by a long ‘uh. Oh; Ah!’ brought me close to premature orgasm, but this was not what Leah wanted, so I held back.Leah must have sensed I was close. She stopped gyrating, lifted herself, and then began inching herself up my torso. She paused for a moment and sat on my chest, then her hands reached out to touch my face. Two fingertips began touring my facial features as if Leah wanted to memorize every feature of my face. In the darkness, my senses heightened, her fingers swirled, and circled, and glided over me. I never would have imagined how erotic it felt.Leah resumed moving higher, her knees passing over my shoulders until they rested on either side of my head. I reached up to confirm what lay just inches above my face and grazed the same hairy splendor I sampled back at the hotel. Inhaling deeply, I picked up traces of the same body wash on her thighs. I was ready to dive back in, so I reached up and grabbed Leah’s hips, then pulled her pussy down toward my awaiting tongue. I paused as her short curly hair began painting her scent onto my face. The scent of arousal overpowered my senses. But? Something strange? I froze. The contradiction awoke my twilight dream state.“Why did you stop, Gunnar?” From the darkness came Jorunn’s voice! The dream of Leah's nocturnal visit was replaced by the reality of a beautiful young woman revealing her devotion and desire to this 56 year old guy.I was stunned. I couldn’t reveal the real reason I stopped; was uncertainty. Jorunn’s pussy smelled different than Leah’s! I hadn’t noticed any difference between Leah’s and Jorunn’s tall, fit bodies. If there were any, they were undetectable in the darkness, especially with only my brief exposure to Leah. “I can’t do this with you, Jorunn.” I softly and sincerely spoke.“I want to make love to you tonight, Gunnar. More than anything in the world. Am I not pretty enough? Has not enough time passed since your wife’s funeral? You are the only man in the world I can love to, without fear of being hurt.”“Jorunn, you are an incredibly beautiful woman. For months, I fantasized about holding you in my arms, kissing you, and wishing to be exactly where I am now. But yesterday, I met your mother.”Jorunn asked, “Did she order you not to have sex with me?”I replied, “It’s not that. I think I’m falling in love with Leah. We spent a wonderful day together, and she swept me off my feet. If that love turns out to be mutual, I am prepared to pledge my heart totally to her and her alone. A lifetime commitment, one I will never dishonor. The only reason you and I got this far tonight is that in the darkness and my dream state, I thought you were Leah. I never would have done it otherwise.” But you are a lovely and desirable woman. I respect you and Leah. So much that I cannot be false to either of you. And I cannot dishonor myself, by doing what I know is dishonorable.”Jorunn shifted positions and lay next to me in the bed. In the darkness, Jorunn whispered, “You are so unlike my father. He always put himself first. I was ready to give myself to you tonight. You could have kept quiet and let it happen. Then lied about it to my mother in the morning. But you didn’t. You are a better man than my father ever was, and I know you will make my mother happy. Please don’t be afraid to give her, and yourself, a chance. She really needs someone like you in her life.”I heard a soft sob and reached out to touch Jorunn’s face. She was crying. Jorunn came into my bedroom tonight, looking for someone to love. She didn’t know about Leah and me, or what happened between us at the hotel. I very much doubt her mother would have told her. I admired what Jorunn just did. She was sacrificing her chance at love so that her mother might have one. Jorunn knew that she bore the duty to initiate affection, after so harshly rejecting my romantic advances, last week.Silence followed, before Jorunn finally said, “What you have shown me, Gunnar, is that there are still good men in this world. But I am still afraid to look for them.”I thought back to the day Jorunn and I went sledging. “Remember what you told me at Korketrekkeren? You don’t need to be afraid of looking for a man, Jorunn. What you need to be afraid of is being too afraid to try looking for a man. Promise me that you will push off, just like riding a sledge, and start looking. When you reach the bottom of that scary hill, you will no longer be afraid, and someone you love will be waiting there for you.”“I will, Gunnar. I promise. And thank you.” Jorunn climbed out of my bed and closed the door as she left.Christmas EveDecember 24 - MorningI woke up in the guest room bed. Hearing noises and holiday folk music in the kitchen, I dressed and went downstairs. Leah smiled and said, “God Jul!”, Norwegian's way of saying merry Christmas. Then she made me scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Afterward, I enjoyed a slice of fruited Christmas Cake with coffee.“Leah, there is something I need to tell you. Jorunn came into my room last night looking for a man to love. In the darkness and my dream state, I thought it was you. It took a moment for me to realize it was Jorunn, and I stopped myself before going too far. Jorunn and I talked, and I confessed my love for you, to her. She understood, and asked that I give that love a chance. I want to do that. I asked Jorunn to no longer be afraid to look for love, and she agreed.”“Thank you for telling me, Gunnar. I have struggled to get Jorunn to go on dates after her father hurt her so badly. You must be a special man to find a place in her heart.”Leah sat down at the table with me, and continued; “I trust Jorunn, and now I trust you. So you will know, I will come to you tonight, bearing a lighted candle.”I said, “That sounds romantic.” My cock jolted to attention, under my trousers. I smiled and winked.Leah replied, “Wait until you see what I will be wearing.” She stood and returned to her baking, as the soft holiday music filled the busy kitchen. Leah's hips softly gyrated to the soft beat as she hummed with the lyrics.Jorunn came down later for breakfast, and after eating, she announced she would be working on edits and voiceovers for her recent videos. Since they were related to Christmas, she wanted to finish them to post them later tonight.Just before lunch, Leah led me back to the television and as we snuggled on the couch, she turned on “Tre Notter til Askepott”, a 1973 Czech reenactment of Cinderella, dubbed into Norwegian. The story was familiar, with Cinderella granted three wishes. It was enjoyable, but the dubbed dialog did not quite match the lips of the actors, so I needed to concentrate on what they were saying. Leah mentioned that this show is so popular in Norway, that storms of protest arose one year when they decided not to broadcast it. They ended up sending it out later in the holiday.Jorunn joined Leah and me for lunch. We ate Risengrynsgrot, which is rice porridge cooked with milk, sugar, and vanilla. We each had a bowl, and hiding in one of the three bowls was an almond. I suspected possible cheating such that I would be the one getting the almond, but as it turned out, Jorunn got the lucky bowl. As her prize, Leah gave Jorunn a chocolate-covered marzipan pig, an oddity for certain, but part of the tradition. There was porridge left over, and Leah said she would use it to make Riskrem, the delicious rice dessert eaten after tonight’s dinner. Solveig’s Riskrem was one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, and I was looking forward to tasting Leah’s.Leah turned to me and said, “If you want to eat, you must help in the kitchen.”Cooking was not something I knew very well, and after Leah led me into the kitchen, I let her know that. But since we were alone, I moved behind her, pulled her blonde hair aside, and nuzzled her neck.Leah said, “If you don’t stop, Gunnar, it will take longer before we eat.” But she wiggled her hips into my crotch before spinning out of my embrace.I helped Leah remove a large roasting pan from the refrigerator and put it in the oven. “That’s a strange-looking piece of meat,” I said.Leah replied, “It is called Ribbe, or roasted pork belly. It is one of the most popular Christmas meals in Norway. I scored the fat layer on top two days ago into a checkerboard pattern. Once cooked, the bottom meat stays tender while the cracklings on top get crispy.”Leah handed me a vegetable peeler and pointed to a bag of potatoes. I needed no further instructions on this. While I worked, Leah flittered around the kitchen, preparing the side dishes. She looked genuinely happy, and we talked and laughed and told tales of Christmases long ago.Just as we pulled the Ribbe from the oven, church bells began ringing from multiple sources. It was 17:00.“It seems like an odd time for church bells,” I said.Leah replied, “In Scandinavia, a new day traditionally starts at sundown, not midnight. Following the old ways, Christmas Day has arrived. It is time to eat.”Jorunn joined us in the mad flurry of activity as places were set, and food moved from the kitchen to the dining room. On the table was Ribbe, boiled potatoes, meatballs, gravy, sausages, sauerkraut, prunes, and lingonberries. Leah poured each of us a tall glass of juleøl, a dark spiced ale, brewed during Christmas all over Norway. She said at one time, a Norwegian king made it illegal to Not brew Christmas Ale. Everything was delicious, and I ate until I could stuff in no more.After dinner, we cleaned up and went into the living room to enjoy coffee, cookies, and a small bowl of Riskrem. I wondered why Leah brought out four bowls of Riskrem. Three topped with whipped cream and a berry sauce, one with only a blob of butter in the middle.Leah said, “We set out a bowl of porridge every Christmas for the fjøsnissen. The tradition evolved from the days when farming families would offer porridge to their barn elf, or nisse. The nisse takes care of the animals in the barn during winter so they don’t get sick. If you don’t do this, the fjøsnissen will play tricks on you.”As we nibbled, Jorunn set the bowl of porridge outside the front door for the fjøsnissen. Then we sat and watched an American Christmas movie on television. After it ended, Leah announced it was time to open the presents. I suspected this would happen and was glad I bought a gift for both Leah and Jorunn. We each dispersed, returned with our packages, and placed them under the Christmas tree.As expected, Leah and Jorunn shared the most gifts for each other, opening the usual mix of chocolates, clothing, and kitchen items. Then Jorunn handed me a gift from her. I opened it and found a DVD labeled, 'Christmas in Norway Tour’, along with a link and instructions to download the video if I preferred. Jorunn told me she made an hour-long video of all the things we did together over the past week, adding music and voiceovers so I would remember the now-completed tour. In exceedingly small letters, at the bottom of the instructions, I saw a link for a story with a similar name and suspected it might be one full of adjectives.Jorunn then opened my gift to her. I remembered the small camera she used this past week and bought her a new top-of-the-line digital camera. From her reaction, I did well.Leah then opened my gift to her. I purchased a genuinely nice Advent star to hang in her window, since she did not have one. It was large and electrically lit and after opening it, she wanted to hang it up right away, which we did. Then we went outside to see how it looked. Leah kissed me and whispered that the Advent Star possessed a special meaning for her this year, a sign of brighter days ahead.Seeing us standing outside, a Julenissen crossed the street and came up to us. The man, dressed in a red jacket with a matching pointed red hat, carried a cloth sack. He was older, and his white beard looked genuine.Jorunn yelled, “God Jul, Julenissen!”As the Julenissen joined us, Leah said, “Nice to see you again, Mr. Bjornstad.”The Julenissen opened a small cloth sack, pulled out a straw goat wrapped with red ribbons, and handed it to Jorunn. Leah explained that the Julenissen come around to houses on Christmas Eve to hand out presents and chocolate to the children. Often, more than one Julenissen would knock on your door during the evening. Unlike America, children get to meet the Julenissen in Norway.“It wouldn’t be the same this year without one of your julebukk!” said an excited Jorunn. Mr. Bjornstad had been coming to Jorunn’s house for a long time, and told us he likes to keep alive the old Norse traditions, such as the julebukk. In addition to handing out hand-made gifts, he tells folklore stories and tales from the days of the Vikings. What a wonderful thing to do to preserve the ancient Norse legacy of sagas and storytelling.Leah excused herself as Mr. Bjornstad started telling such a tale to Jorunn and me. He described Valhalla, where Odin and the brave warriors would train by day, and feast on roast boar and ale at night. Leah returned a moment later with four glasses of Aquavit. We toasted the season and sipped our Aquavit with the Julenissen after the story ended. We then sang a Christmas song together.Then we went back inside and watched the DVD that Jorunn made. The tour sounded exciting and full of fun, which indeed, it was. It also gave Leah another chance to see me in action. It was a full evening, and close to 23:00 when the DVD ended. We were all tired, and it was time for bed. Jorunn told us she was going upstairs to take a shower. Leah and I followed her up to our two bedrooms.A Single CandleDecember 24th - Late EveningFive minutes later, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Opening it, Leah stood there, holding a single candle, and wearing a lavender-colored silk nightgown and robe set. The half-sleeve wrap robe only partially covered her nightgown, leaving the lace-trimmed bustline and hem of her nightgown exposed. She put a finger to her mouth and whispered, “Shhh!” Then she led me by hand to her bedroom. The only light inside came from her single candle.My eyes quickly adjusted, or perhaps it was just my intent stare, “You look incredible.”Leah

Poetry and baring the soul.Based on a post by Jorunn, in 4 parts. Listen to the ►Podcast at Connected.Arriving at her house, Leah and I carried my clothes up to the spare bedroom. I thanked Leah once again, then kissed her.Leah softly whispered, “Jorunn is downstairs!”I replied in the same whisper, “Then kiss me quietly.” And she did.I spent the remainder of the day doing my laundry, once Leah showed me how to use her Norwegian washing machine. Leah opened the clothes drying rack, and when done, I laid my clothes out to dry.For dinner, Leah prepared salmon fillets with boiled potatoes. As Jorunn and Leah washed the dishes, I sat on the center seat of the sofa, reflecting on the day. When they finished, both Jorunn and Leah rushed into the living room, extremely excited, and sat down on either side of me. Jorunn turned on the television and switched to Norwegian National Television. I wondered what the fuss was about.“Five more minutes,” yelped Jorunn.After a brief introduction, an old black-and-white movie started. Both Jorunn and Leah snuggled up tight against me and I put my arms around them. It felt great. The show, called “Dinner for One”, featured a 90-year-old countess celebrating her birthday. She invited four friends but outlived them all. Her butler decides to impersonate each of the four missing guests. As he slips into each of the roles, he drinks a toast, and quickly becomes intoxicated, leading to numerous sight gags. It felt good to laugh along with people again. It was rather short, and when it ended, Leah told me it was the most repeated television show of all time and is quite popular in Scandinavian countries and northern Europe.Leah and Jorunn went around rearranging and straightening Christmas decorations, then announced it was time to make Julekurver. I heard of them, but never actually made one. Made of paper, they are heart-shaped and filled with sweets.We quickly cleared the dining room table, then covered it with red and white paper, a plastic rule, a plastic circle, and scissor. Leah and Jorunn both moved quickly, folding a sheet of paper of each color, and I followed their action. Then it was time to measure and cut, and fortunately, they slowed down to allow me to keep up. Using a circle, we marked a half circle and cut the excess away. Then cut strips into the paper, not going all the way across. We wove the red and white papers together in a checkerboard pattern and unfolded them into a perfect heart shape. I thought the process rather inefficient and decided to show off my engineering skills from 3M by making a fancier one. As I unfolded it, Jorunn and Leah laughed, and a moment later, I discovered one way not to make a Julekurver.After a long and active day, I was tired, so I went to bed. Both Jorunn and Leah were talking softly in the living room as I drifted off to sleep.A nocturnal visitorDecember 23rd - Just Before MidnightI was startled awake when I heard my bedroom door close, followed by a soft, “Shush!”I listened closely in the total darkness for footsteps and heard someone approach my bed. Leah must be ready to resume what we started back at the hotel! A hand pulled back the covers, and instinctively I slid toward the middle of the bed to make space. Leah slid in next to me and drew the covers back over us.Leah moved and shifted, and a hand found the back of my head. I expected her lips to follow, and they did. Soft and gentle, a wonderful way for my nocturnal visitor to say hello. Leah told me at the hotel she did not want to feel rushed, so there was no urgency. Her lips retreated, and her hand slid down to caress my cheek, as delicate fingers gently stroked me.I reached out and found her left shoulder as Leah faced me, then marveled at the smoothness as my hand traced her arm downward. Approaching her hand, I extended further to touch her hip. I began softly rubbing, but her ass beckoned, and my hand moved to cup and squeeze her firm cheek. My fingers began shooting sensations of warmth, softness, and inner firmness directly to my brain. I pulled Leah tight against me and discovered she was already completely naked.Leah swung her left leg over me and moved to an upright position, straddling my crotch. Beneath my boxer shorts, my erect cock fought for release. Her hand found my cock within its shelter but did not liberate it. Instead, her hand pushed my cock flat against my lower stomach, and she slid forward, trapping it with the swollen outer lips of her pussy. Leah began slowly gyrating, and even through the fabric of my boxers, I felt her pussy lips spreading as they slid along either side of my hidden cock.The hushed sounds of Leah cooing and moaning barely reached my ears, as dampness built between us. I reached up with both hands, found her small breasts, and used my thumbs to tease her nipples to an erection. A heavy breath followed by a long ‘uh. Oh; Ah!’ brought me close to premature orgasm, but this was not what Leah wanted, so I held back.Leah must have sensed I was close. She stopped gyrating, lifted herself, and then began inching herself up my torso. She paused for a moment and sat on my chest, then her hands reached out to touch my face. Two fingertips began touring my facial features as if Leah wanted to memorize every feature of my face. In the darkness, my senses heightened, her fingers swirled, and circled, and glided over me. I never would have imagined how erotic it felt.Leah resumed moving higher, her knees passing over my shoulders until they rested on either side of my head. I reached up to confirm what lay just inches above my face and grazed the same hairy splendor I sampled back at the hotel. Inhaling deeply, I picked up traces of the same body wash on her thighs. I was ready to dive back in, so I reached up and grabbed Leah’s hips, then pulled her pussy down toward my awaiting tongue. I paused as her short curly hair began painting her scent onto my face. The scent of arousal overpowered my senses. But? Something strange? I froze. The contradiction awoke my twilight dream state.“Why did you stop, Gunnar?” From the darkness came Jorunn’s voice! The dream of Leah's nocturnal visit was replaced by the reality of a beautiful young woman revealing her devotion and desire to this 56 year old guy.I was stunned. I couldn’t reveal the real reason I stopped; was uncertainty. Jorunn’s pussy smelled different than Leah’s! I hadn’t noticed any difference between Leah’s and Jorunn’s tall, fit bodies. If there were any, they were undetectable in the darkness, especially with only my brief exposure to Leah. “I can’t do this with you, Jorunn.” I softly and sincerely spoke.“I want to make love to you tonight, Gunnar. More than anything in the world. Am I not pretty enough? Has not enough time passed since your wife’s funeral? You are the only man in the world I can love to, without fear of being hurt.”“Jorunn, you are an incredibly beautiful woman. For months, I fantasized about holding you in my arms, kissing you, and wishing to be exactly where I am now. But yesterday, I met your mother.”Jorunn asked, “Did she order you not to have sex with me?”I replied, “It’s not that. I think I’m falling in love with Leah. We spent a wonderful day together, and she swept me off my feet. If that love turns out to be mutual, I am prepared to pledge my heart totally to her and her alone. A lifetime commitment, one I will never dishonor. The only reason you and I got this far tonight is that in the darkness and my dream state, I thought you were Leah. I never would have done it otherwise.” But you are a lovely and desirable woman. I respect you and Leah. So much that I cannot be false to either of you. And I cannot dishonor myself, by doing what I know is dishonorable.”Jorunn shifted positions and lay next to me in the bed. In the darkness, Jorunn whispered, “You are so unlike my father. He always put himself first. I was ready to give myself to you tonight. You could have kept quiet and let it happen. Then lied about it to my mother in the morning. But you didn’t. You are a better man than my father ever was, and I know you will make my mother happy. Please don’t be afraid to give her, and yourself, a chance. She really needs someone like you in her life.”I heard a soft sob and reached out to touch Jorunn’s face. She was crying. Jorunn came into my bedroom tonight, looking for someone to love. She didn’t know about Leah and me, or what happened between us at the hotel. I very much doubt her mother would have told her. I admired what Jorunn just did. She was sacrificing her chance at love so that her mother might have one. Jorunn knew that she bore the duty to initiate affection, after so harshly rejecting my romantic advances, last week.Silence followed, before Jorunn finally said, “What you have shown me, Gunnar, is that there are still good men in this world. But I am still afraid to look for them.”I thought back to the day Jorunn and I went sledging. “Remember what you told me at Korketrekkeren? You don’t need to be afraid of looking for a man, Jorunn. What you need to be afraid of is being too afraid to try looking for a man. Promise me that you will push off, just like riding a sledge, and start looking. When you reach the bottom of that scary hill, you will no longer be afraid, and someone you love will be waiting there for you.”“I will, Gunnar. I promise. And thank you.” Jorunn climbed out of my bed and closed the door as she left.Christmas EveDecember 24 - MorningI woke up in the guest room bed. Hearing noises and holiday folk music in the kitchen, I dressed and went downstairs. Leah smiled and said, “God Jul!”, Norwegian's way of saying merry Christmas. Then she made me scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Afterward, I enjoyed a slice of fruited Christmas Cake with coffee.“Leah, there is something I need to tell you. Jorunn came into my room last night looking for a man to love. In the darkness and my dream state, I thought it was you. It took a moment for me to realize it was Jorunn, and I stopped myself before going too far. Jorunn and I talked, and I confessed my love for you, to her. She understood, and asked that I give that love a chance. I want to do that. I asked Jorunn to no longer be afraid to look for love, and she agreed.”“Thank you for telling me, Gunnar. I have struggled to get Jorunn to go on dates after her father hurt her so badly. You must be a special man to find a place in her heart.”Leah sat down at the table with me, and continued; “I trust Jorunn, and now I trust you. So you will know, I will come to you tonight, bearing a lighted candle.”I said, “That sounds romantic.” My cock jolted to attention, under my trousers. I smiled and winked.Leah replied, “Wait until you see what I will be wearing.” She stood and returned to her baking, as the soft holiday music filled the busy kitchen. Leah's hips softly gyrated to the soft beat as she hummed with the lyrics.Jorunn came down later for breakfast, and after eating, she announced she would be working on edits and voiceovers for her recent videos. Since they were related to Christmas, she wanted to finish them to post them later tonight.Just before lunch, Leah led me back to the television and as we snuggled on the couch, she turned on “Tre Notter til Askepott”, a 1973 Czech reenactment of Cinderella, dubbed into Norwegian. The story was familiar, with Cinderella granted three wishes. It was enjoyable, but the dubbed dialog did not quite match the lips of the actors, so I needed to concentrate on what they were saying. Leah mentioned that this show is so popular in Norway, that storms of protest arose one year when they decided not to broadcast it. They ended up sending it out later in the holiday.Jorunn joined Leah and me for lunch. We ate Risengrynsgrot, which is rice porridge cooked with milk, sugar, and vanilla. We each had a bowl, and hiding in one of the three bowls was an almond. I suspected possible cheating such that I would be the one getting the almond, but as it turned out, Jorunn got the lucky bowl. As her prize, Leah gave Jorunn a chocolate-covered marzipan pig, an oddity for certain, but part of the tradition. There was porridge left over, and Leah said she would use it to make Riskrem, the delicious rice dessert eaten after tonight’s dinner. Solveig’s Riskrem was one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, and I was looking forward to tasting Leah’s.Leah turned to me and said, “If you want to eat, you must help in the kitchen.”Cooking was not something I knew very well, and after Leah led me into the kitchen, I let her know that. But since we were alone, I moved behind her, pulled her blonde hair aside, and nuzzled her neck.Leah said, “If you don’t stop, Gunnar, it will take longer before we eat.” But she wiggled her hips into my crotch before spinning out of my embrace.I helped Leah remove a large roasting pan from the refrigerator and put it in the oven. “That’s a strange-looking piece of meat,” I said.Leah replied, “It is called Ribbe, or roasted pork belly. It is one of the most popular Christmas meals in Norway. I scored the fat layer on top two days ago into a checkerboard pattern. Once cooked, the bottom meat stays tender while the cracklings on top get crispy.”Leah handed me a vegetable peeler and pointed to a bag of potatoes. I needed no further instructions on this. While I worked, Leah flittered around the kitchen, preparing the side dishes. She looked genuinely happy, and we talked and laughed and told tales of Christmases long ago.Just as we pulled the Ribbe from the oven, church bells began ringing from multiple sources. It was 17:00.“It seems like an odd time for church bells,” I said.Leah replied, “In Scandinavia, a new day traditionally starts at sundown, not midnight. Following the old ways, Christmas Day has arrived. It is time to eat.”Jorunn joined us in the mad flurry of activity as places were set, and food moved from the kitchen to the dining room. On the table was Ribbe, boiled potatoes, meatballs, gravy, sausages, sauerkraut, prunes, and lingonberries. Leah poured each of us a tall glass of juleøl, a dark spiced ale, brewed during Christmas all over Norway. She said at one time, a Norwegian king made it illegal to Not brew Christmas Ale. Everything was delicious, and I ate until I could stuff in no more.After dinner, we cleaned up and went into the living room to enjoy coffee, cookies, and a small bowl of Riskrem. I wondered why Leah brought out four bowls of Riskrem. Three topped with whipped cream and a berry sauce, one with only a blob of butter in the middle.Leah said, “We set out a bowl of porridge every Christmas for the fjøsnissen. The tradition evolved from the days when farming families would offer porridge to their barn elf, or nisse. The nisse takes care of the animals in the barn during winter so they don’t get sick. If you don’t do this, the fjøsnissen will play tricks on you.”As we nibbled, Jorunn set the bowl of porridge outside the front door for the fjøsnissen. Then we sat and watched an American Christmas movie on television. After it ended, Leah announced it was time to open the presents. I suspected this would happen and was glad I bought a gift for both Leah and Jorunn. We each dispersed, returned with our packages, and placed them under the Christmas tree.As expected, Leah and Jorunn shared the most gifts for each other, opening the usual mix of chocolates, clothing, and kitchen items. Then Jorunn handed me a gift from her. I opened it and found a DVD labeled, 'Christmas in Norway Tour’, along with a link and instructions to download the video if I preferred. Jorunn told me she made an hour-long video of all the things we did together over the past week, adding music and voiceovers so I would remember the now-completed tour. In exceedingly small letters, at the bottom of the instructions, I saw a link for a story with a similar name and suspected it might be one full of adjectives.Jorunn then opened my gift to her. I remembered the small camera she used this past week and bought her a new top-of-the-line digital camera. From her reaction, I did well.Leah then opened my gift to her. I purchased a genuinely nice Advent star to hang in her window, since she did not have one. It was large and electrically lit and after opening it, she wanted to hang it up right away, which we did. Then we went outside to see how it looked. Leah kissed me and whispered that the Advent Star possessed a special meaning for her this year, a sign of brighter days ahead.Seeing us standing outside, a Julenissen crossed the street and came up to us. The man, dressed in a red jacket with a matching pointed red hat, carried a cloth sack. He was older, and his white beard looked genuine.Jorunn yelled, “God Jul, Julenissen!”As the Julenissen joined us, Leah said, “Nice to see you again, Mr. Bjornstad.”The Julenissen opened a small cloth sack, pulled out a straw goat wrapped with red ribbons, and handed it to Jorunn. Leah explained that the Julenissen come around to houses on Christmas Eve to hand out presents and chocolate to the children. Often, more than one Julenissen would knock on your door during the evening. Unlike America, children get to meet the Julenissen in Norway.“It wouldn’t be the same this year without one of your julebukk!” said an excited Jorunn. Mr. Bjornstad had been coming to Jorunn’s house for a long time, and told us he likes to keep alive the old Norse traditions, such as the julebukk. In addition to handing out hand-made gifts, he tells folklore stories and tales from the days of the Vikings. What a wonderful thing to do to preserve the ancient Norse legacy of sagas and storytelling.Leah excused herself as Mr. Bjornstad started telling such a tale to Jorunn and me. He described Valhalla, where Odin and the brave warriors would train by day, and feast on roast boar and ale at night. Leah returned a moment later with four glasses of Aquavit. We toasted the season and sipped our Aquavit with the Julenissen after the story ended. We then sang a Christmas song together.Then we went back inside and watched the DVD that Jorunn made. The tour sounded exciting and full of fun, which indeed, it was. It also gave Leah another chance to see me in action. It was a full evening, and close to 23:00 when the DVD ended. We were all tired, and it was time for bed. Jorunn told us she was going upstairs to take a shower. Leah and I followed her up to our two bedrooms.A Single CandleDecember 24th - Late EveningFive minutes later, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Opening it, Leah stood there, holding a single candle, and wearing a lavender-colored silk nightgown and robe set. The half-sleeve wrap robe only partially covered her nightgown, leaving the lace-trimmed bustline and hem of her nightgown exposed. She put a finger to her mouth and whispered, “Shhh!” Then she led me by hand to her bedroom. The only light inside came from her single candle.My eyes quickly adjusted, or perhaps it was just my intent stare, “You look incredible.”Leah

Poetry and baring the soul.Based on a post by Jorunn, in 4 parts. Listen to the ►Podcast at Connected.Arriving at her house, Leah and I carried my clothes up to the spare bedroom. I thanked Leah once again, then kissed her.Leah softly whispered, “Jorunn is downstairs!”I replied in the same whisper, “Then kiss me quietly.” And she did.I spent the remainder of the day doing my laundry, once Leah showed me how to use her Norwegian washing machine. Leah opened the clothes drying rack, and when done, I laid my clothes out to dry.For dinner, Leah prepared salmon fillets with boiled potatoes. As Jorunn and Leah washed the dishes, I sat on the center seat of the sofa, reflecting on the day. When they finished, both Jorunn and Leah rushed into the living room, extremely excited, and sat down on either side of me. Jorunn turned on the television and switched to Norwegian National Television. I wondered what the fuss was about.“Five more minutes,” yelped Jorunn.After a brief introduction, an old black-and-white movie started. Both Jorunn and Leah snuggled up tight against me and I put my arms around them. It felt great. The show, called “Dinner for One”, featured a 90-year-old countess celebrating her birthday. She invited four friends but outlived them all. Her butler decides to impersonate each of the four missing guests. As he slips into each of the roles, he drinks a toast, and quickly becomes intoxicated, leading to numerous sight gags. It felt good to laugh along with people again. It was rather short, and when it ended, Leah told me it was the most repeated television show of all time and is quite popular in Scandinavian countries and northern Europe.Leah and Jorunn went around rearranging and straightening Christmas decorations, then announced it was time to make Julekurver. I heard of them, but never actually made one. Made of paper, they are heart-shaped and filled with sweets.We quickly cleared the dining room table, then covered it with red and white paper, a plastic rule, a plastic circle, and scissor. Leah and Jorunn both moved quickly, folding a sheet of paper of each color, and I followed their action. Then it was time to measure and cut, and fortunately, they slowed down to allow me to keep up. Using a circle, we marked a half circle and cut the excess away. Then cut strips into the paper, not going all the way across. We wove the red and white papers together in a checkerboard pattern and unfolded them into a perfect heart shape. I thought the process rather inefficient and decided to show off my engineering skills from 3M by making a fancier one. As I unfolded it, Jorunn and Leah laughed, and a moment later, I discovered one way not to make a Julekurver.After a long and active day, I was tired, so I went to bed. Both Jorunn and Leah were talking softly in the living room as I drifted off to sleep.A nocturnal visitorDecember 23rd - Just Before MidnightI was startled awake when I heard my bedroom door close, followed by a soft, “Shush!”I listened closely in the total darkness for footsteps and heard someone approach my bed. Leah must be ready to resume what we started back at the hotel! A hand pulled back the covers, and instinctively I slid toward the middle of the bed to make space. Leah slid in next to me and drew the covers back over us.Leah moved and shifted, and a hand found the back of my head. I expected her lips to follow, and they did. Soft and gentle, a wonderful way for my nocturnal visitor to say hello. Leah told me at the hotel she did not want to feel rushed, so there was no urgency. Her lips retreated, and her hand slid down to caress my cheek, as delicate fingers gently stroked me.I reached out and found her left shoulder as Leah faced me, then marveled at the smoothness as my hand traced her arm downward. Approaching her hand, I extended further to touch her hip. I began softly rubbing, but her ass beckoned, and my hand moved to cup and squeeze her firm cheek. My fingers began shooting sensations of warmth, softness, and inner firmness directly to my brain. I pulled Leah tight against me and discovered she was already completely naked.Leah swung her left leg over me and moved to an upright position, straddling my crotch. Beneath my boxer shorts, my erect cock fought for release. Her hand found my cock within its shelter but did not liberate it. Instead, her hand pushed my cock flat against my lower stomach, and she slid forward, trapping it with the swollen outer lips of her pussy. Leah began slowly gyrating, and even through the fabric of my boxers, I felt her pussy lips spreading as they slid along either side of my hidden cock.The hushed sounds of Leah cooing and moaning barely reached my ears, as dampness built between us. I reached up with both hands, found her small breasts, and used my thumbs to tease her nipples to an erection. A heavy breath followed by a long ‘uh. Oh; Ah!’ brought me close to premature orgasm, but this was not what Leah wanted, so I held back.Leah must have sensed I was close. She stopped gyrating, lifted herself, and then began inching herself up my torso. She paused for a moment and sat on my chest, then her hands reached out to touch my face. Two fingertips began touring my facial features as if Leah wanted to memorize every feature of my face. In the darkness, my senses heightened, her fingers swirled, and circled, and glided over me. I never would have imagined how erotic it felt.Leah resumed moving higher, her knees passing over my shoulders until they rested on either side of my head. I reached up to confirm what lay just inches above my face and grazed the same hairy splendor I sampled back at the hotel. Inhaling deeply, I picked up traces of the same body wash on her thighs. I was ready to dive back in, so I reached up and grabbed Leah’s hips, then pulled her pussy down toward my awaiting tongue. I paused as her short curly hair began painting her scent onto my face. The scent of arousal overpowered my senses. But? Something strange? I froze. The contradiction awoke my twilight dream state.“Why did you stop, Gunnar?” From the darkness came Jorunn’s voice! The dream of Leah's nocturnal visit was replaced by the reality of a beautiful young woman revealing her devotion and desire to this 56 year old guy.I was stunned. I couldn’t reveal the real reason I stopped; was uncertainty. Jorunn’s pussy smelled different than Leah’s! I hadn’t noticed any difference between Leah’s and Jorunn’s tall, fit bodies. If there were any, they were undetectable in the darkness, especially with only my brief exposure to Leah. “I can’t do this with you, Jorunn.” I softly and sincerely spoke.“I want to make love to you tonight, Gunnar. More than anything in the world. Am I not pretty enough? Has not enough time passed since your wife’s funeral? You are the only man in the world I can love to, without fear of being hurt.”“Jorunn, you are an incredibly beautiful woman. For months, I fantasized about holding you in my arms, kissing you, and wishing to be exactly where I am now. But yesterday, I met your mother.”Jorunn asked, “Did she order you not to have sex with me?”I replied, “It’s not that. I think I’m falling in love with Leah. We spent a wonderful day together, and she swept me off my feet. If that love turns out to be mutual, I am prepared to pledge my heart totally to her and her alone. A lifetime commitment, one I will never dishonor. The only reason you and I got this far tonight is that in the darkness and my dream state, I thought you were Leah. I never would have done it otherwise.” But you are a lovely and desirable woman. I respect you and Leah. So much that I cannot be false to either of you. And I cannot dishonor myself, by doing what I know is dishonorable.”Jorunn shifted positions and lay next to me in the bed. In the darkness, Jorunn whispered, “You are so unlike my father. He always put himself first. I was ready to give myself to you tonight. You could have kept quiet and let it happen. Then lied about it to my mother in the morning. But you didn’t. You are a better man than my father ever was, and I know you will make my mother happy. Please don’t be afraid to give her, and yourself, a chance. She really needs someone like you in her life.”I heard a soft sob and reached out to touch Jorunn’s face. She was crying. Jorunn came into my bedroom tonight, looking for someone to love. She didn’t know about Leah and me, or what happened between us at the hotel. I very much doubt her mother would have told her. I admired what Jorunn just did. She was sacrificing her chance at love so that her mother might have one. Jorunn knew that she bore the duty to initiate affection, after so harshly rejecting my romantic advances, last week.Silence followed, before Jorunn finally said, “What you have shown me, Gunnar, is that there are still good men in this world. But I am still afraid to look for them.”I thought back to the day Jorunn and I went sledging. “Remember what you told me at Korketrekkeren? You don’t need to be afraid of looking for a man, Jorunn. What you need to be afraid of is being too afraid to try looking for a man. Promise me that you will push off, just like riding a sledge, and start looking. When you reach the bottom of that scary hill, you will no longer be afraid, and someone you love will be waiting there for you.”“I will, Gunnar. I promise. And thank you.” Jorunn climbed out of my bed and closed the door as she left.Christmas EveDecember 24 - MorningI woke up in the guest room bed. Hearing noises and holiday folk music in the kitchen, I dressed and went downstairs. Leah smiled and said, “God Jul!”, Norwegian's way of saying merry Christmas. Then she made me scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Afterward, I enjoyed a slice of fruited Christmas Cake with coffee.“Leah, there is something I need to tell you. Jorunn came into my room last night looking for a man to love. In the darkness and my dream state, I thought it was you. It took a moment for me to realize it was Jorunn, and I stopped myself before going too far. Jorunn and I talked, and I confessed my love for you, to her. She understood, and asked that I give that love a chance. I want to do that. I asked Jorunn to no longer be afraid to look for love, and she agreed.”“Thank you for telling me, Gunnar. I have struggled to get Jorunn to go on dates after her father hurt her so badly. You must be a special man to find a place in her heart.”Leah sat down at the table with me, and continued; “I trust Jorunn, and now I trust you. So you will know, I will come to you tonight, bearing a lighted candle.”I said, “That sounds romantic.” My cock jolted to attention, under my trousers. I smiled and winked.Leah replied, “Wait until you see what I will be wearing.” She stood and returned to her baking, as the soft holiday music filled the busy kitchen. Leah's hips softly gyrated to the soft beat as she hummed with the lyrics.Jorunn came down later for breakfast, and after eating, she announced she would be working on edits and voiceovers for her recent videos. Since they were related to Christmas, she wanted to finish them to post them later tonight.Just before lunch, Leah led me back to the television and as we snuggled on the couch, she turned on “Tre Notter til Askepott”, a 1973 Czech reenactment of Cinderella, dubbed into Norwegian. The story was familiar, with Cinderella granted three wishes. It was enjoyable, but the dubbed dialog did not quite match the lips of the actors, so I needed to concentrate on what they were saying. Leah mentioned that this show is so popular in Norway, that storms of protest arose one year when they decided not to broadcast it. They ended up sending it out later in the holiday.Jorunn joined Leah and me for lunch. We ate Risengrynsgrot, which is rice porridge cooked with milk, sugar, and vanilla. We each had a bowl, and hiding in one of the three bowls was an almond. I suspected possible cheating such that I would be the one getting the almond, but as it turned out, Jorunn got the lucky bowl. As her prize, Leah gave Jorunn a chocolate-covered marzipan pig, an oddity for certain, but part of the tradition. There was porridge left over, and Leah said she would use it to make Riskrem, the delicious rice dessert eaten after tonight’s dinner. Solveig’s Riskrem was one of my favorite parts of the holiday season, and I was looking forward to tasting Leah’s.Leah turned to me and said, “If you want to eat, you must help in the kitchen.”Cooking was not something I knew very well, and after Leah led me into the kitchen, I let her know that. But since we were alone, I moved behind her, pulled her blonde hair aside, and nuzzled her neck.Leah said, “If you don’t stop, Gunnar, it will take longer before we eat.” But she wiggled her hips into my crotch before spinning out of my embrace.I helped Leah remove a large roasting pan from the refrigerator and put it in the oven. “That’s a strange-looking piece of meat,” I said.Leah replied, “It is called Ribbe, or roasted pork belly. It is one of the most popular Christmas meals in Norway. I scored the fat layer on top two days ago into a checkerboard pattern. Once cooked, the bottom meat stays tender while the cracklings on top get crispy.”Leah handed me a vegetable peeler and pointed to a bag of potatoes. I needed no further instructions on this. While I worked, Leah flittered around the kitchen, preparing the side dishes. She looked genuinely happy, and we talked and laughed and told tales of Christmases long ago.Just as we pulled the Ribbe from the oven, church bells began ringing from multiple sources. It was 17:00.“It seems like an odd time for church bells,” I said.Leah replied, “In Scandinavia, a new day traditionally starts at sundown, not midnight. Following the old ways, Christmas Day has arrived. It is time to eat.”Jorunn joined us in the mad flurry of activity as places were set, and food moved from the kitchen to the dining room. On the table was Ribbe, boiled potatoes, meatballs, gravy, sausages, sauerkraut, prunes, and lingonberries. Leah poured each of us a tall glass of juleøl, a dark spiced ale, brewed during Christmas all over Norway. She said at one time, a Norwegian king made it illegal to Not brew Christmas Ale. Everything was delicious, and I ate until I could stuff in no more.After dinner, we cleaned up and went into the living room to enjoy coffee, cookies, and a small bowl of Riskrem. I wondered why Leah brought out four bowls of Riskrem. Three topped with whipped cream and a berry sauce, one with only a blob of butter in the middle.Leah said, “We set out a bowl of porridge every Christmas for the fjøsnissen. The tradition evolved from the days when farming families would offer porridge to their barn elf, or nisse. The nisse takes care of the animals in the barn during winter so they don’t get sick. If you don’t do this, the fjøsnissen will play tricks on you.”As we nibbled, Jorunn set the bowl of porridge outside the front door for the fjøsnissen. Then we sat and watched an American Christmas movie on television. After it ended, Leah announced it was time to open the presents. I suspected this would happen and was glad I bought a gift for both Leah and Jorunn. We each dispersed, returned with our packages, and placed them under the Christmas tree.As expected, Leah and Jorunn shared the most gifts for each other, opening the usual mix of chocolates, clothing, and kitchen items. Then Jorunn handed me a gift from her. I opened it and found a DVD labeled, 'Christmas in Norway Tour’, along with a link and instructions to download the video if I preferred. Jorunn told me she made an hour-long video of all the things we did together over the past week, adding music and voiceovers so I would remember the now-completed tour. In exceedingly small letters, at the bottom of the instructions, I saw a link for a story with a similar name and suspected it might be one full of adjectives.Jorunn then opened my gift to her. I remembered the small camera she used this past week and bought her a new top-of-the-line digital camera. From her reaction, I did well.Leah then opened my gift to her. I purchased a genuinely nice Advent star to hang in her window, since she did not have one. It was large and electrically lit and after opening it, she wanted to hang it up right away, which we did. Then we went outside to see how it looked. Leah kissed me and whispered that the Advent Star possessed a special meaning for her this year, a sign of brighter days ahead.Seeing us standing outside, a Julenissen crossed the street and came up to us. The man, dressed in a red jacket with a matching pointed red hat, carried a cloth sack. He was older, and his white beard looked genuine.Jorunn yelled, “God Jul, Julenissen!”As the Julenissen joined us, Leah said, “Nice to see you again, Mr. Bjornstad.”The Julenissen opened a small cloth sack, pulled out a straw goat wrapped with red ribbons, and handed it to Jorunn. Leah explained that the Julenissen come around to houses on Christmas Eve to hand out presents and chocolate to the children. Often, more than one Julenissen would knock on your door during the evening. Unlike America, children get to meet the Julenissen in Norway.“It wouldn’t be the same this year without one of your julebukk!” said an excited Jorunn. Mr. Bjornstad had been coming to Jorunn’s house for a long time, and told us he likes to keep alive the old Norse traditions, such as the julebukk. In addition to handing out hand-made gifts, he tells folklore stories and tales from the days of the Vikings. What a wonderful thing to do to preserve the ancient Norse legacy of sagas and storytelling.Leah excused herself as Mr. Bjornstad started telling such a tale to Jorunn and me. He described Valhalla, where Odin and the brave warriors would train by day, and feast on roast boar and ale at night. Leah returned a moment later with four glasses of Aquavit. We toasted the season and sipped our Aquavit with the Julenissen after the story ended. We then sang a Christmas song together.Then we went back inside and watched the DVD that Jorunn made. The tour sounded exciting and full of fun, which indeed, it was. It also gave Leah another chance to see me in action. It was a full evening, and close to 23:00 when the DVD ended. We were all tired, and it was time for bed. Jorunn told us she was going upstairs to take a shower. Leah and I followed her up to our two bedrooms.A Single CandleDecember 24th - Late EveningFive minutes later, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Opening it, Leah stood there, holding a single candle, and wearing a lavender-colored silk nightgown and robe set. The half-sleeve wrap robe only partially covered her nightgown, leaving the lace-trimmed bustline and hem of her nightgown exposed. She put a finger to her mouth and whispered, “Shhh!” Then she led me by hand to her bedroom. The only light inside came from her single candle.My eyes quickly adjusted, or perhaps it was just my intent stare, “You look incredible.”Leah

Shaun Sport goes big for the birthday with Super Bowl day coverage, crossing to Clint Stanaway, Jase and Lauren for all the hype!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Great work happens when you trust then notice exceptional cooperation and team leadership:“We value your work because you are valuable to all of us.”“Shhh. Until someone values me, I'll just take my paycheck.”“One only gets trust with trustworthiness or sacrifice for others.”What changes when recognition becomes a habit is surprising…See BoldEncounters.TV.Episode 2 with Kevin Ames goes beyond appreciation as a leadership idea and turns it into something concrete: the difference between workplaces where nobody cares about the work—and workplaces where people become the kind of professionals who naturally do great work. Kevin and Mark contrast two unforgettable service experiences, then connect the deeper thread: trust is often built faster through sacrifice than through speeches, policies, or “programs.”Inside This Episode• Two radically varied “great work” events—and their cause• Why people don't do great work if nobody cares about them• How sacrifice builds instant trust faster than anything• Why most people live “in a vacuum of appreciation"• One way to appreciate excellence now—before week's endGo Deeper — Premium Action PlanThis episode includes a Premium Action Plan (for members) of Bold Encounters Club.You'll get a simple, step-by-step way to practice elite appreciation, build trust through one measurable sacrifice, and turn “great work” into repeatable culture—not just a rare personality trait.Kevin AmesFounder, Ames Leadership InstituteLeadership researcher, speaker, and executive coachKnown for practical frameworks on trust, appreciation, and performanceWorks with leaders to turn recognition into real resultsMoments to Revisit• The “gentleman's club” jacket story reveals so much...• What thinking, “Nobody cares about their work …” creates.• “Eight out of ten… live in a recognition vacuum." Why it matters.• The friendship built through doing meaningful work together• “You only get trust when you're trustworthy or sacrifice.”Final ThoughtOrganizations don't become “the best” because they claim it. They become the best when individuals inside them decide to be extraordinary...and recoginze the extraordinary. When leaders make people feel seen, great work becomes worth doing.

Spanners, Trumpets and Kyle dig into the data and discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of the first few days of the Barcelona shakedown rodeo in this, the latest episode of Missed Apex Podcast!Give Spanners Insta a go!!!https://www.instagram.com/spannersready ⭐Missed Apex Tik Tokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@missedapexf1⭐ Spanners https://x.com/SpannersReadyhttps://bsky.app/profile/spannersready.bsky.social⭐ Matt Trumpets https://x.com/mattpt55https://bsky.app/profile/mattpt55.bsky.socialWays To Support Missed Apex:✅ Join our Patreon to gain access to our exclusive Patreon Only Discord Chat + Bonus ContentWe Only Exist Due to Our Patron Support https://www.patreon.com/MissedApex✅ Leave a tip https://missedapexpodcast.com/tipjarOn Tonight's Show:⭐Missed Apex Tik Tokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@missedapexf1⭐ Spanners https://x.com/SpannersReadyhttps://bsky.app/profile/spannersready.bsky.social⭐ Matt Trumpets https://x.com/mattpt55https://bsky.app/profile/mattpt55.bsky.social⭐ Kyle Power https://x.com/KylePowerF1We've done a watchalong!!! Now its a watchalater!! Check it out if you missed us live!!https://www.youtube.com/live/otDRikHN95w?si=lPEiGELnkWWfYbg2Race can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZH9cIXnG2kGive Spanners Insta a go!!!https://www.instagram.com/spannersreadyCome watch our iRacing Series with Spanners on comms!https://youtube.com/live/U4qkMR_GLuE?feature=shareCheck out Missed Apex Tik Tok!!!! https://www.tiktok.com/@missedapexf1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Awards season 2026 continues to steamroll ahead. Just days after the Oscar nominations, the BAFTA and WGA nominations have arrived. To help break it all down, Christina is joined by Eoin Daly, co-host of the Shhh, My Stories Are On! podcast, as they discuss the biggest talking points, surprises, and what these nominations could mean for the rest of the awards season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shhh noone tell the boss we did a show before our offical launch next week! Subscribe on LiSTNR: https://play.listnr.com/podcast/jess-and-rohanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Shhh, My Kids Are Asleep, I sit down with my daughter to talk about the Instagram account she thought was a secret for three years. Spoiler: it wasn't as hidden as she thought. I discovered it quietly, said nothing, and waited. After a big family move to Texas, we finally talked about it all.This is an honest online convo.If you're a parent navigating Instagram, secret accounts, digital boundaries, or just trying to keep an open line with your teen, this episode is for you. No yelling. No shaming. Just curiosity, accountability, and real conversation.

Shhh cállate Chalino, nos van a escuchar!-Miaaauuuuu, Miauuuuu-¡Ya Chalino, deja de hacer ruidos!-Con un maullido estremecedor y la mirada a punto del llanto, Chalino merodeaba arrastrando la cola sobre la mesa; eran las 3:45 de la mañana, Remedios buscaba a tientas...

PREDICADOR: Pastora Luz Omayra GutierrezEVENTO: Culto RegularTELÉFONO:  787.750.8021EMAIL: ibm.pr@outlook.comSíguenos en nuestras redes sociales:FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ibmetropolisBUZZSPROUT: https://ibmetropolis.buzzsprout.com/Entramos para adorar, salimos para servir

The Town made it 10 games unbeaten at Kenilworth Road with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Stevenage on Saturday afternoon. Kev is joined by The Lutonian journalist James Cunliffe to reflect on an afternoon where the Hatters showed plenty of spirit and character. They dissect the main moments from the match, the turning points throughout it and who impressed and changed the game. There is a reflection on the first signing of the January transfer window plus a look ahead to the Vertu Trophy tie with Swindon Town on Tuesday night. All this and a whole lot more on the longest-running, award-winning Luton Town podcast!

We Return to a Wednesday Night for the first time in years!US Govt attempts to force regime changes. Attacking brown countries… NFL playoff picture is set… Now what?Special Guest from Liquor Talk Podcast! Don't forget to support our sponsor while using our promo code “STARTING5” for 20% off at Hooksrub.comJOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP!!!https://www.facebook.com/groups/57797...THESTARTING5SHOW@GMAIL.COMFOR EVERYTHING THE STARTING 5 PODCAST RELATED https://linktr.ee/THESTARTING5PODCAST#HooksRub #WeSmokeMeat, #HooksRubOnMyMeat, #HooksRub, #HooksRubsAndSpices, #HooksRubTheStarting5Collab, #thestarting5podcast

Content note: This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, trauma, and healing. Please listen with care.Some moments reshape us before we even have words for them.In this episode of The Life Shift, we explore a pivotal life shift and the before and after moments that shaped Erin Snow's journey toward reclaiming her voice, worth, and sense of self.Erin Snow carried one of those moments for most of her life. What began as a buried truth became a quiet weight she learned to navigate on her own. And somewhere along the way, that silence started to turn into something else. A nudge. A voice. A call to reclaim the parts of herself that had been taken.Her story is not only about what happened. It is about the slow return to her own strength, the tenderness of being heard at the right time, and the courage it takes to tell a truth that once felt impossible to say. Erin reminds us that healing is not tidy. It grows in seasons. It begins in small ways. And often it starts with listening.What You'll Hear:The childhood moment that marked a clear before and afterHow silence shaped Erin's sense of worthThe long path toward reclaiming her voiceWhy advocacy became a way to healHow listening became her life's purposeThe freedom of saying something you once held aloneGuest Bio:Erin Snow is a transformative listening strategist who turns the art of hearing into a powerful tool for personal and professional empowerment. As the founder of Seacoast Listening Lounge, she has pioneered a revolutionary approach that creates a sanctuary where women can not just survive, but truly reclaim their narrative and inner strength.With sixteen years of frontline experience as a legal advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, Erin has witnessed firsthand the life changing power of authentic, compassionate listening. She made history as the first paralegal in New Hampshire to represent clients directly in family court, breaking barriers and reshaping traditional legal norms.Her work bridges trauma-informed advocacy with deep emotional intelligence, offering individuals, leaders, and organizations a pathway to genuine, transformative connection. Erin can be reached at seacoastlisteninglounge.com.Listen and follow: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/followSupport the show for ad-free and early-release episodes: www.patreon.com/thelifeshiftpodcastSubscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/

In this episode of Shhh, My Kids Are Asleep, I share a simple cheat code for surviving life after vacation — building a decompression day into the end of your trip so you can rest, reset, and ease back into the week instead of crashing straight into real life.I also talk about traveling to Louisiana to visit family, reconnecting with cousins, and how it felt like no time had passed at all. Cousins really are built-in friends, and sometimes the easiest relationships are the ones that don't need explaining.We reflect on the importance of checking in on the people we love, my regret about not visiting my grandma more, and the gratitude that comes with having the means and opportunity to spend time with family while we can.This episode is about slowing down, being present, and finding small ways to take care of yourself — even after the trip ends.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Preston A Whitmore II's This Christmas may not be a super popular holiday movie, but Michael thinks it's underrated and under-discussed, so he's invited William Bruce West and David May to watch and talk about it. The movie stars Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba, Regina King, Keith D Robinson, Mekhi Phifer, and others as members of a family coming together for the holidays after a few years apart and everyone has secrets. Shhh!

December 3, 2025Today's Reading: Romans 13:(8-10) 11-14Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 9:8-10:11; 1 Peter 5:1-14“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:11-12)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Perhaps you remember the story of Paul Revere, the Boston silversmith who warned the American revolutionaries that, “The British are coming! The British are coming!” If you don't remember Paul Revere, you might remember that student in your elementary classroom who stood in the doorway when the teacher left the room. As the rest of the class got up to their shenanigans, the lookout would loudly whisper, “Shhh! The teacher's coming back!”Holy Scripture doesn't need Paul Revere or the classroom lookout because the Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write that it's time to wake from sleep. There is no time for sleepiness, laziness, or shenanigans for God's people. The Lord's salvation is near at hand, and Christ is returning soon. Live like Jesus is coming in glory soon! Live as one of the Christians who is forgiven by Jesus and for whom Jesus died.It's hard to live in a constant state of readiness. Have you ever had a class at school where your teacher warned you that you could have a pop quiz at any time? It was really stressful, wasn't it? Or if you have a job, you know how nerve-wracking it can be when your boss watches your normal tasks and then asks to have a private chat.  You are covered by the grace of Christ. That doesn't mean that you can let your guard down or live in a spiritually lazy way. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith. (Hebrews 12:2) Live out your faith because you are a beloved child of God. Jesus is coming back. Yet, your life of faith isn't something you need to do because you are afraid of God, but because that is who God has made you to be. While it can be hard to remain dedicated to the loving service that God has called you to do, don't grow weary. Don't give up. Don't stop serving and loving your neighbors. After all, God put those people in your life for you to love. He has also called you to love Him with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul. As hard as it is, simply do that until the day that Jesus returns in glory.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.As we worship, grant us vision, Till Your love's revealing light In its height and depth and greatness, Dawns upon our quickened sight, Making known the needs and burdens Your compassion bids us bear, Stirring us to tireless striving, Your abundant life to share. (LSB 848:3)Author: Rev. Peter Ill, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, IL.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lowell, IN.Work through the first ten chapters of Matthew and learn more about who Jesus is. As you move through this study, you'll ponder the theological, practical, and historical considerations of the text. With ample room for personal notes, this study will have you feeling confident in your understanding of Matthew's Gospel. Matthew 1:1-11:1 of the new Concordia Commentary Bible Study Series is available now.

Shhh… listen. Where is that beautiful music coming from? Oh! It is from a music player!噓??仔細聽！音樂是從哪裡傳出來的呢？阿，原來是從留聲機傳出來的！Click HERE for the full transcript!

Happy Thanksgiving! This week we revisit a shaman and learn not to sweat the small stuff, Elizabeth's stock is soaring at Trader Joe's and Andy explains a complicated yet nuanced food situation. It's all covered on this week's Nobody's Listening, Right? Check out our new True Crime podcast: BETH'S DEAD Learn more at: https://www.patreon.com/cw/BethsDead Support NLR Join Patreon for bonus episodes! Buy the Merch! Find us on Instagram Find us on TikTok⁠⁠ Watch us on YouTube Shop our Amazon recommendations Here ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:17 San Pedro and Ayahuasca 09:29 Don't Sweat The Small Stuff 10:14 Sick Kids / Super Mom 15:21 Trader Joe's Models 21:49 Ad Break 24:47 Go Duck Yourself 26:42 Shhh It's Complicated 35:21 Below Deck 44:33 Charli XCX 49:16 Trade Joe's Sugar Momma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Thanksgiving in the Nix house… and this year? It looks a little different.A surprise family guest shows up, the great silent-volume debate makes an appearance (how loud is “quiet,” exactly?), and I'm trying to figure out how to grow into a new space while making traditions of my own.The kids might cook with me… which is either adorable or mildly terrifying. I also face the sad, humbling truth that I am now the undefeated baked-mac champion by default because I moved states and left all my competition behind.

This discussion features: David LaManna, Mike McHugh and James Gowell. Edited by: Tim NicholsonWe dive into our second and final week of studying 2 John 1 which is a short 13 chapters yet packed with heat. David kicks us off by sharing the background of 2 John and how easy it was for the Docetist to target the house churches due to the love followers of Christ show. James shares a real life and recent example at a recent small group and David brings it full circle in sharing the importance of discernment via the Holy Spirit.Mike shares that truth and love are inseparable and we go on a journey together imagining receiving a letter from John that he is planning to visit.This is another page turner episode so come along for the ride...it's a great conversation! Shhh, there is a bonus feature for you hardcore listeners if you listen to the end. Next week, 3 John, so please read along with us.Please help us spread the word about Thriving in the Word, and we encourage you to read it and come along for the journey. Thank you for listening and being part of the Thriving in the Word family.Have a blessed day.For more information visit: www.thrive.churchIf you would like to give financially you can do so here: www.thrive.church/give/If you need prayer email us at prayer@thrive.churchThis is a presentation of Thrive.Church©All Rights Reserved

Welcome to the first episode of our new format where, instead of us talking about the same book, we are going to tell each other about one that we've read on our own. Calina introduces this new episode in light of Halloween and goes spooky with Cackle by Rachel Harris and Saylet talks about When We Had Forever by Shaylin Gandhi. Join us as we continue to share our love of books, romance or otherwise; we hope you've read along! We are also introducing a new, quick segment at the end where we will each provide a short list of recommended books. Tell us what you think about this new format! ***We would love and appreciate it if you could subscribe, rate & review! Follow us @ShhhDirtyBooks on FB & IG as well as on our website at ShhhDirtyBooks.com. Thank you for joining us!*** Music by Jim Townsend

Welcome to episode 328 of The Cloud Pod, where the forecast is always cloudy! Justin, Ryan, and Matt are on board today to bring you all the latest news in cloud and AI, including secret regions (this one has the aliens), ongoing discussions between Microsoft and OpenAI, and updates to Nova, SQL, and OneLake -and even the latest installment of Cloud Journeys.  Let's get started!  Titles we almost went with this week CloudWatch’s New Feature: Because Nobody Likes Writing Incident Reports at 3 AM DNS: Did Not Survive – The Great US-EAST-1 Outage of 2025 404 DevOps Not Found: The AWS Automation Adventure mk When Your DevOps Team Gets Replaced by AI and Then Everything Crashes Database Migrations Get the ChatGPT Treatment: Just Vibe Your Schema Changes AWS DevOps Team Gets the AI Treatment: 40% Fewer Humans, 100% More Questions Breaking Up is Hard to Compute: Microsoft and OpenAI Redefine Their Relationship AWS Goes Full Scope: Now Tracking Your Cloud’s Carbon from Cradle to Gate Platform Engineering: When Your Golden Path Leads to a Dead End DynamoDB’s DNS Disaster: How a Race Condition Raced Through AWS AI Takes Over AWS DevOps Jobs, Servers Take Unscheduled Vacation PostgreSQL Scaling Gets a 30-Second Makeover While AWS Takes a Coffee Break The Domino Effect: When DynamoDB Drops, Everything Drops RAG to Riches: Amazon Nova Learns to Cite Its Sources AWS Finally Tells You When Your EC2 Instance Can’t Keep Up With Your Storage Ambitions AWS Nova Gets Grounded: No More Hallucinating About Reality One API to Rule Them All: OneLake’s Storage Compatibility Play OpenAI gets to pay Alimony Database schema deployments are totally a vibe AWS will tell you how not green you are today, now in 3 scopes General News  02:00 DDoS in September | Fastly Fastly‘s September DDoS report reveals a notable 15.5 million requests per second attack that lasted over an hour, demonstrating how modern application-layer attacks can sustain extreme throughput with real HTTP requests rather than simple pings or amplification techniques. Attack volume in September dropped to 61% of August levels, with data suggesting a correlation between school schedules and attack frequency: lower volumes coincide with school breaks, while higher volumes occur when schools are in session. Media & Entertainment companies faced the highest median attack sizes, followed by Education and High Technology sectors, with 71% of September’s peak attack day attributed to a single enterprise media company. The sustained 15 million RPS attack originated from a single cloud-provider ASN, using sophisticated daemons that mimicked browser behavior, making detection more challenging than typical DDoS patterns. Organizations should evaluate whether their incident response runbooks can handle hour-long attacks at 15+ million RPS, as these sustained high-throughput attacks require automated mitigation rather than manual intervention. Listen, we're not inviting a DDoS attack, but also…we'll just turn off the website, so there's that.  AI Is Going Great – Or How ML Makes Money 04:41 Google AI Studi

A message to the supporters and Part 1 of Xperience J's new faceless film! Plagued by writer's block and a strained marriage, a bestselling author becomes entangled in an affair with the newly hired housekeeper. As dark secrets emerge, he finds himself in a race against time to safeguard his loved ones from a looming danger.Created by Xperience J.A Shhh! Jus' Listen Media production.Available on most streaming platforms now! ✨Follow us @shhhjuslisten on IG and X

En vivo!!! El pasquín 410. Los nuevos impuestos, la tragedia de las inundaciones, la "paz" en Gaza y mucho más en el único noticiero cállate mejor, mejor.ÚNETE AL PATREON DEL PASQUÍN Y VUELA!!! https://www.patreon.com/elpasquinLos conductores:EL SR. SANTO  @elsrsanto  https://twitter.com/elsrsanto El ciber: https://twitch.tv/elsrsantoEL SR. BÚHO  @mexqueunclub9602  https://twitter.com/mr_buho - https://www.facebook.com/mrbuho.pasquin/

Shhh! Don't tell Grant that Diane Keaton is gone. Also the boys discover WHILE RECORDING that D'Angelo passed. It was a tough day. But then they read YOUR kid's ministry memories and have a gay ole time.   Follow us! Instagram: @Twinnuendo @darbylynncartwright @DontTalkToGrant TikTok: @twinnuendopod @thedarbylynn @DontTalkToGrant Twitter: @Twinnuendo @TheDarbyLynn @DontTalkToGrant Support our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/Twinnuendo?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to our podcast: Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1LtOrDbZh646DYt66FzKUP?si=212f3d3cc4ac478a⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/twinnuendo/id1757646055⁠⁠⁠ Call us!(940) ASS-TWIN IMHO: the PODCAST: ⁠⁠⁠https://swap.fm/l/IMHO⁠⁠⁠ Twinnuendo.com  Send us mail!  Drew12348-B Ventura Blvd # 134 Studio City, CA 91604 Grant PO Box 783711 Winter Garden, FL 34778         Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LDV Mahi Monday Jordan comes to the show today with mixed emotions following his break on Taylor Swift last week... So today Brook gives him a chance at redemption... There is a "secret" in the show that is going to show just who the die hard, loyal shifters are and who the not so loyal ones are... What a week that was, make it to and home safe today Shifters, let's lock in for another great week! We in this together! Hit that link below to stay caught up with anything and everything TMS. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/groups/3394787437503676/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We dropped some merch! Use TMS for 10% off. Here is the link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youknowclothing.com/search?q=tms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you to the team at Chemist Warehouse for helping us keep the lights on, here at The Morning Shift... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.chemistwarehouse.co.nz/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 00:00 - Intro 2:40 - Check In 7:31 - Daily Bread 11:09 - Can You Keep A Secret 18:25 - Time To Do Some Homework 28:57 - Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey Budget Besties—bonus episode: SHHH… we're running a secret, besties-only sale this weekend on our Simplified Budget System (editable, plans paychecks, organizes bills, separates spending)Click to reveal your coupon!What our Budget Besties are saying: “savings buckets growing + paying down bills” — Tammy; “paid off 7 credit cards and now use cash” — Barbara; “finally stopped living paycheck to paycheck” — Kathleen.⁠Click to reveal your coupon!⁠

Soothing Shhh & White Noise

Our Heroes gotta look up some cool art. You want to see? We're not sure if we're even allowed to show this dude. You remember Homer? No the other one. Yeah well he's hot now. Maybe. Shhh don't tell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when life forces you to stop, reflect, and rebuild? In this recap, Lesley and Brad unpack their conversation with wellness coach and the Balanced Your Life Podcast host Meghan Pherrill, who transformed her life after battling OCD, depression, and anxiety. They reflect on how Meghan's journey shows the power of starting small, listening to your intuition, and choosing practices that spark joy. This episode will inspire you to rethink your habits, embrace imperfection, and create a life rooted in balance and authenticity.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How Meghan's breakup became a turning point for self-discovery.Why healing from OCD required both slow shifts and sudden breakthroughs.The importance of starting with one simple habit and sticking with it.How support systems can either hold you back or help you grow.Meghan's meditation guide for creating lasting calm and balance.Episode References/Links:Cambodia Retreat Waitlist - https://crowsnestretreats.comWinter Tour - https://opc.me/tourPilates Journal Expo - https://xxll.co/pilatesjournalContrology Pilates Conference in Poland - https://xxll.co/polandContrology Pilates Conference in Brussels - https://xxll.co/brusselsSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsEpisode 580: Wendy Valentine - https://beitpod.com/580Meghan Pherrill Website - https://www.balancebymeghan.comBalance Your Life Podcast - https://www.balancebymeghan.com/podcastInternational OCD Foundation - https://iocdf.org If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  We know from how habits are truly created, it has to actually bring joy and dopamine, you have to get dopamine high. If you don't, you're not going to get that habit. If it feels like it's shameful or like you're judging yourself, it's possible that's not your intuition and you're following someone else's. Lesley Logan 0:16  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:55  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the restorative combo I had with Megan Farrell in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to the episode and you are not new here, you know what to do. If you're brand new here, hi, we're gonna talk about something that already happened, and you can listen. If you're like me, you'd listen to this one and then you listen to the other one. Or you can be like, Brad and pause us now. Brad Crowell 1:23  You do that? Lesley Logan 1:24  Of course. I want, when we watch The Crown, do I not look up the historical facts before we finish?Brad Crowell 1:31  She does. She always looks up the ending. Yeah, I watch it from start to finish.Lesley Logan 1:34  I need, sometimes I get just nervous, and I just need to know how it's going to be, so that I can sit and pay attention. Because sometimes I'm just so nervous for them. They're like, I can't you saw my stress results after watching F1. Brad Crowell 1:47  Yes, I did. Lesley Logan 1:48  So you guys, we saw the F1 movie, and mostly I went for the Brad Pitt part, but my friend said it was just on edge of her seat, and so I looked at my WHOOP and, like, heart rate monitor and you can see from the horror film preview to the end of the movie of the of the F1 you can actually see every time they had a race, because my heart would spike for every race, and I just like, can someone just tell me if he wins this race? So I can just enjoy the race, because I can't enjoy the race right now because I'm so stressed for him. So that's why I like to listen to these kinds of episodes, podcasts, and then I listen to the one.Brad Crowell 1:48  Yeah, yeah, okay.Lesley Logan 1:52  Today is October 2nd, 2025, in case you didin't know, it is the day before our 10th year wedding anniversary. Brad Crowell 2:37  What? Oh, yeah. Lesley Logan 2:39  But it's also the actual day of International Day of Non-Violence. Today, we celebrate the birthday of a man who helped bring forward the notion of non violence and the tremendous impact this form of social response has all over the world in the last century. On the International Day of Non-Violence created by the United Nations in 2007, we look back on the influence of an Indian activist born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but known the world over as Mahatma Gandhi. The International Day of Non-Violence honors how Gandhi's work and legacy has impacted global non-violent protests. The UN has good reason to use Gandhi's birthday to celebrate International Day of Non-Violence. Gandhi's commitment to India's independence and his methods have been the cornerstone of civil and human right initiatives all over the world. Put simply, Gandhi saw it as completely irrational to use violence to achieve peace. But rather just means.Brad Crowell 3:29  But rather, just means lead to just ends.Lesley Logan 3:32  Oh, but rather comma just means lead to just ends. Period. Got it, okay. This is a lesson we can all take to heart. I mean, I completely agree, you know.Brad Crowell 3:43  Yeah, it's, it's amazing that, especially in, you know, when he died in 1940s like late 40s, and his message spread all around the world, which is amazing, because, no, no computers, no email, no social media. Lesley Logan 4:01  Did you ever wonder? But do you wonder, like, would Mahatma Gandhi actually be famous today? Do you know what I mean? Because, like, some of the people we looked to were like, wow, like, would they actually keep the attention of the people who are like, hold on, let me see this kid, like, try lemon for the first time. I just, I just kind of like. Brad Crowell 4:19  Or drink Coke for the first time. Lesley Logan 4:20  Here's my, my faith in humanity's ability to, like, take, take seriously things that are serious is, like, dwindling every day. Lesley Logan 4:34  Yeah. I mean. Lesley Logan 4:35  We don't even know what's happened today when this comes out. I'm telling you, we're recording this in August, so, like, who knows what has happened to people's rights between August and August 2nd because it feels like every day they're trying to take someone's rights, or some city's rights away. We're talking about the U.S.Brad Crowell 4:50  Over the weekend, in the U.S., the federal government deployed troops to 17 cities, or something like that.Lesley Logan 4:57  I think they threatened 17. Brad Crowell 4:57  Or they, like, they we're gonna take, yeah. Lesley Logan 4:58  But by the time this has happened, maybe it's happened, but by the time we're recording this, no. So right now, they're in D.C. and they're threatening to go to Chicago and something else, but, like.Brad Crowell 5:08  They're in L.A. and D.C., yeah. Lesley Logan 5:10  And, you know, like, I just, I mean, it's all control, right? The more they have you scared, the more they have you changing your life, you know, then it's one day you wake up, it's too late, you can't even vote. So keep protesting. Go find a protest. There's a woman who's 104 I think she turned 104 two months ago. She protests every Thursday. Every Thursday. She is 104 she has very few days left on this planet, and she's like, I'm gonna spend one of every seven protesting for people's rights. We are not going to be here. Brad Crowell 5:44  She's not going to be here for them. Lesley Logan 5:45  She's not going to be here, right? Someday she will go. So I'm just saying, you, too.Brad Crowell 5:50  Yeah, but I think also, the thing, you know, like, we've been.Lesley Logan 5:54  By the way, we all boycott Target and look what happened. CEO is gone. So these things work.Brad Crowell 5:58  Well, the point of it is, is not necessarily the, the action of boycotting is important and and like, you know, making your voice heard. But I think that the key here is the non violent part, right? And I'll tell you, it's really challenging when you know the police are out in force or the military is out in force. It's very scary feeling to be in a crowd and, you know, see a clash, and you know that's, that is, we haven't been around like extreme violence, but we've been around like high pressure, like, environments where you're like, oh, if somebody does one thing stupid, this could all blow up. Right? Lesley Logan 6:42  I got really nervous at that one protest because this guy kept taunting the police and I was like, let's just go over here, because, like, it just, he's acting a little crazy. They're going to take it crazier, and then, who knows, but.Brad Crowell 6:55  But that's where I feel like that's why we need to focus on the non-violence, because it's important to make our voices heard. We have to make our voices heard. If we don't do that, then there are people who will make decisions that will that will hurt us, right, as a society and, literally, individually. But how do we do that in a way that doesn't make us exactly like them? Right?Lesley Logan 7:20  Yeah, well, you're going to call your congress person and senator every day. You are going to not pick every single company to boycott. I get it, lifestyle, we gotta do something. You know, we still shop in these places I'm not happy about, but you gotta, like, pick, like, I'm not doing these places or I'm gonna do, we did an FYFwhere I explained how you could, like, boycott in a way that was, like, successful for you and where your life is. You could borrow things. You can also, like, let's say you have a (inaudible), you don't have time to go out on a Saturday to go protest. Okay, great. So then, how can you help promote protests? How can you make sure that everyone you know goes out? Like, how can you do that? And, you know, there's just, there's just, there's always a way, no matter what your situation is. But I get that you're busy and I get that you're tired. I get that you're scared. We don't have time for that. And if you don't listen live in this country, and you're having to listen to us every Thursday talking about this, tell your American friends to get the fuck up and do some action, non-violent action. You know, we gotta do it. You know, it's just so important. And I promise you, you feel better after you do it. Non-violence, to me, does not mean telling people, like yelling what you want to yell out. That's what you could do at a protest. It's quite nice. I find it cathartic. Yeah, oh, I have a fit. We're, did we share this already? So we were at a protest, and there's like some dickhead on his little vape sucky thing, can't even handle, can't handle grown people with, like, a little passy. Anyways, he's like, flipping us off, and the guys next to us are like, oh, I'm gonna pray for you. And he's like, they hate that. And I was like, oh yeah. Thoughts and prayers. So if you have some dickhead, fascist, loving person in your life, you can just be like when they flip you off or they call you some, don't worry, I'll be praying for you. Brad Crowell 9:05  Yeah, thoughts and prayers. thoughts and prayers. Lesley Logan 9:06  Thoughts and prayers for you and your children. Anyways, today. Do you have anything more to say? Lesley Logan 9:12  I know Gandhi is great. Have you watched the movie? Go watch it. If you're like, Gandhi, I haven't thought about in a while. There's a movie about him. I'm sure there's some, I'm sure you can get chatgpt to give you the Cliff Notes as well, you know. But like. Brad Crowell 9:23  It's worth watching. Lesley Logan 9:25  I think it's worth watching. I think it's we, it's nice to learn about. If people think that this is all new, none of, none of what we're going through is new. Brad Crowell 9:33  The same stuff happened in the 60s. I mean, we're we're recycling, we're recycling fascism. I mean, it happened in the 40s and 30s, 20s.Lesley Logan 9:43  And they, and I love this, if we don't learn history, we're doomed to repeat it. People do, do learn history, and they're still repeating it, you know. So it's also, I think a lot of people who think that, like they could never be in a cult, they could never fall for that. They could never understand coercion, because they would never let that happen. And yet, they're also the same, people, very coerced. So, you know, take some time to learn about Gandhi today. And what can you do that's non-violent today to protest what you're pissed off about? Tell us what you decided to do. Tag us in the Be It Pod. We'll share it. We'll share with friends. Lesley Logan 10:15  Today is October 2nd. We are in Chicago, as we speak. We're having a great time with our members, and people came to our workshop, and we'll be at the Balanced Body's Pilates On T our. Brad Crowell 10:25  Yeah, if you are in Chicago, we're going to coordinate members only hang. So you know, if you are, you can come hang. If you're listening this podcast and you're at P.O.T. and you're not a member, just come hang out anyway. We'd love to meet you and hang out with you. Brad Crowell 10:36  And if you're like, where is it? You gotta reach out to us. Just text the company. Brad Crowell 10:42  Yeah, just text us 310-905-5534, text us there and we'll let you know.Lesley Logan 10:45  Supposedly Instagram is just gonna start telling over my location. And last week, it was everyone saying this is how you turn the location things off. And I was like.Brad Crowell 10:57  It seems like a bad idea. Lesley Logan 10:58  I was like, oh, great, then people will know where I am. Like, I don't know. Brad Crowell 11:02  Turn that shit off.Lesley Logan 11:03  Brad, do you know any people go, oh, you live in L.A., right? Like everyone's (inaudible) so it doesn't really matter. Brad Crowell 11:03  No, I think your profile can say Vegas. Lesley Logan 11:03  I know, but every I'm just saying, like, I don't actually know how it works.Brad Crowell 11:13  Maybe if it's general, and you're like, I'm in the city of.Lesley Logan 11:17  I, we told everyone where we are already. So I'm just really not so sure like, how, like, what they're gonna say she's at the movie thing. Like, how specific is it getting? Like, I don't know. Lesley Logan 11:25  Yeah, we'll see. Lesley Logan 11:26  You know what the fucking Earth is on fire. I'm not really worried about this right now. I don't currently have a stalker that is yelling at me. If I do, I'll figure that out. But that's not, that's not the, there's, I'm sure there's VPN for that. Brad Crowell 11:37  That's fair. Lesley Logan 11:38  But after this weekend, we leave for Cambodia for our retreat. And so we want you to join us next October, once you go on the get on the waitlist at crownestretreats.com so go do that.Brad Crowell 11:50  Yeah, come join us in January of next year, we're going to be announcing the early bird special. Lesley Logan 11:56  Yeah, next year's the early bird, October is the retreat. Brad Crowell 11:57  Yeah, October, it's gonna be like the third week of October 18 to 23 or something like that. Lesley Logan 12:01  It's a little later because of a holiday, I don't want to be there. We don't like being on a retreat during Pchum Ben because it's like the (inaudible) and they are, Pchum Ben, literally celebrate for 30 days. But the first three days are really big deal, and it makes it really hard to go into the temples because some of the rooms are blocked off for the holidays so we go around it.Brad Crowell 12:20  Yeah, they're doing a lot of, you know, there's a lot going on there that we are trying to avoid for next year. So, yeah. Anyway, come join us, and we're telling you now so that you have a literal year to plan. Lesley Logan 12:35  No excuses. Brad Crowell 12:36  That's right, no excuses, y'all, the spots are limited, and if you want the information, get on the waitlist, go to crowsnestretreats.com now and then, we're really fired up on the way home from this year's trip. We are going to be teaching in Singapore. And then really, what I'm really fired up about is we're going to go do the Botanical Gardens. If you've never looked these up, y'all, you have to look them up. I saw them in a movie, and I was like, that doesn't look like CGI. What the hell? Where is that place? I need to figure this out. And it is the botanical gardens at night in Singapore, and they are up on this walkway that's raised up above the city with these epic statues that are full of vegetation and the gardens that they've built. And it is just mind blowingly cool. And I've been dreaming of going there for many, many, many years, and finally.Lesley Logan 13:24  And we have a 15-hour layover during the day, so we can do workshops and the garden. Brad Crowell 13:27  Yeah, it's gonna be great. So go check that out. Lesley Logan 13:30  You can't check out our workshop, but you can go check out their gardens. Brad Crowell 13:33  That's right, yeah, the workshop is private event, but the but the gardens are dope. Winter tour.Lesley Logan 13:37  It was announced yesterday. Lesley Logan 13:39  Oh, yeah. Lesley Logan 13:39  I bet you you can go to opc.me/tour at this point. Brad Crowell 13:42  Yeah, you can go to opc.me/tour I'm sure the events was redirected to tour, but if not, you'll get an email saying you're on the waitlist. Thanks. Oh, by the way, tour is open. Click here, so go check your email if you just signed up on the waitlist, opc.me/events or opc.me/tour we are planning to do another 8000 miles. We are. Lesley Logan 14:00  Crazy people. Brad Crowell 14:02  We're looking at like 22 to 24 cities, I think, on this, this tour. And we're really looking forward to being back up in the northeast, all the way back down in Miami. Well, we're going to do Fort Lauderdale this year instead of Miami, but we'll be in the area. And then, yeah, it's going to be awesome. So we can't wait to hang with you again in person, if you've joined us last year, just so that you know, tickets are starting to sell really fast when we make these announcements so.Lesley Logan 14:28  Especially for winter tour, because people, like, can go see family members at certain places. So like, they are, they're on it. They're watching it.Brad Crowell 14:35  So tickets opened yesterday. So go check it out, opc.me/tour. Now, we got some exciting things. We're already talking about 2026 here. Yes, what's going on in January?Lesley Logan 14:44  The Pilates Journal Expo in Huntington Beach, which is near Los Angeles. It is, I forget, I think the dates are like the ninth and 10th, or the 10th and 11th. At any rate, it's like right there. As soon as we end the tour, we go there and we do a couple great events there. So our first expo in the U.S. I'm really excited for them, because we need more conferences. Yeah, we need more ways to get together. Brad Crowell 15:06  It's gonna be awesome. So we've got a new URL for you, everybody, are you ready? This is the unveiling ofLesley Logan 15:13  xxll.co/pilatesjournal so my initials how I sent off xxll.co/pilatesjournal.Brad Crowell 15:20  That'll take you straight to the Pilates Journal Expo. Brad Crowell 15:20  And they have tickets already. Brad Crowell 15:23  Yep, it's available. Lesley Logan 15:28  And then in March, we're going to be in Poland, the Contrology conference in it's like, wut-waf and then sometimes people try to tell me say, oh, ruk-luf. And that's not how you say it. It's like, Wroclaw, but I'm going to be there. And so it's xxll.co/poland and then the next week we'll be in Brussels, different workshops, same, great people. So come to both xxll.co/brussels. So that's Q1, that's as far as I'm going with guys, I don't want to scare myself.Brad Crowell 16:02  Well, then we're gonna be in London in April. Lesley Logan 16:05  Okay, well, just let the cat out of the bag, babe. I'm not talking about Q2. No, no. Refuse. Refuse. We have to wait a couple months. Brad Crowell 16:15  Oh, shoot. We'll wait. We'll wait. Lesley Logan 16:17  I don't like, then it's like, and then in June, and then people are like, too much. They're not listening anymore. It's not, we're losing listeners.Brad Crowell 16:24  It's true. All right. Here we go. We had an audience question. Kaylee Nicole Medina asks, hey Lesley, I wanted to ask you, which classical Reformer do you recommend for a small studio that I'm opening, I'm planning to have only four Reformers, and Kaylee, I can already tell you exactly which Reformer she's gonna recommend.Lesley Logan 16:40  Brad is taking over the answers these days. Well, let's see.Brad Crowell 16:43  Lesley is, if you don't know this, Lesley is a a Pilates Contrology demo center right here in Las Vegas. Lesley Logan 16:52  Just my whole self, yeah. Brad Crowell 16:53  Lesley herself, our our home, is a demo center for Contrology. So, of course, she's going to go with the Contrology Reformer, which is 80 inches. Lesley Logan 17:01  Well, they have a couple but. Brad Crowell 17:04  But the ones that we have are 80. Lesley Logan 17:10  They're 80. Brad Crowell 17:10  So for a smaller studio, get the 80 inches.Lesley Logan 17:08  Yeah, they're gonna work for people up to six-three and all that stuff. And then the other thing I did, I will say, Kaylee, is, if you're like, you could do 280 and 286 is so that way, if you had a couple tall people, you could do that, they're still not what I like about them is they're lightweight, so they're easy to move around. So if the floor is like hardwood floor you could put some little felt on the bottom. It's really easy to, like, slide things around. And Kaylee, if you want to take it up another notch, I'm gonna say you can get both the 80 and the 86 with Towers on them. Now, obviously. Lesley Logan 17:33  You get the 80s with Tower? Lesley Logan 17:37  Shhh. They don't advertise, but you can ask. You gotta talk to me. Gotta talk to me. I'll give you to my girl. My girl will help you out with it.Brad Crowell 17:49  Didn't know that. Lesley Logan 17:49  If you are a taller body, it's obviously not a long enough mat for you, which is why I'm suggesting 286 is 280s and with Towers, and now you have a small studio with two different oh, and get this.Brad Crowell 18:03  That's right, you'll get the you'll get the Reformers, the Towers, and you'll be able to put the mats right on them, so.Lesley Logan 18:08  By the way. But wait there, and not just it. You can buy the handles. This is how genius Balanced Body and Contrology are, they made it so that that converted mat or Tower, you could put the classical mat handles in and now it's a three in one. Brad Crowell 18:22  Come on. Lesley Logan 18:23  You're welcome. And you can use my discount and that's gonna save you like 5% which is like shipping. So, you're welcome. Lesley Logan 18:32  Yeah. So reach back out, Kaylee, that's great. I didn't know that. Fancy, fancy. Don't tell.Brad Crowell 18:39  If you have a question, just text us at 310-905-5534, or submit your question at beitpod.com/questions beitpod.com/questions where you can leave your wins or your questions. And we really actually love hearing from you. Brad Crowell 18:56  I want your wins. I want all your wins. Brad Crowell 19:03  We want more wins. Lesley Logan 18:59  Of course, I want your questions, but I want your wins, too. Brad Crowell 19:01  Yeah, bring it on. All right. Well, stick around. We'll be right back. We're gonna dig into this convo that Lesley had with Meghan Pherrill. Just a minute. Brad Crowell 19:08  All right, welcome back. Let's talk about Meghan Pherrill. Meghan Pherrill is one of the is the creator of Balanced by Meghan, a wellness brand and top Canadian podcast, Balance Your Life. Shaped by her journey through personal challenges and past trauma, Meghan discovered yoga, meditation and healthy eating habits as tools to rebuild her life and really battle OCD and debilitating trauma, right? Today, she inspires others to embrace small, sustainable changes that lead to a well -balanced life. Through retreats, workshops and her podcast, she empowers people to tune into their intuition, find patience in their healing journey, and create a life rooted in health, resilience and authenticity. So it was, it was, it was definitely interesting. It was an intriguing conversation. There's definitely a lot more to that conversation that you y'all didn't go into. But what? But, but what? Tell me what? What is one of the things that jumped out at you?Lesley Logan 20:00  Well, I think, like, what I what I really was interested in talking with her about, because being it till you see it is like she used to, she was, she is diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, right? She had depression and anxiety, and, like, she now is in a whole different place in her life, right? And she worked through all those things. And I'm just like, I think that's really amazing. Because I think a lot of people have this badge of, oh, I have anxiety, or I'm depressed, or I have OCD, and they use it as like, and that's why I can't X, Y and Z. And she had this breakup that was a total wake up call for her, and she was able to realize that she'd become someone she didn't want to be. She didn't like who she was. And, I mean, it's kind of like last week's episode with Wendy Valentine, like out of a relationship, but different points in their life. Meghan is very young. Brad Crowell 20:45  Yeah, sure. Lesley Logan 20:46  And so it's a whole it's not like a midlife crisis, it's like a no, you're an adult now, and you're you don't like who, what's going on with your life and who you become. And so she put all this energy into into this relationship, and she changed herself, and she just didn't like who she so it didn't, didn't work, but she found herself in another way, which is, like, led her discovering yoga, and she got off her medications and started eating really clean, and that really allowed her to, like, start to become this person who you know isn't being controlled by OCD and depression anxiety.Brad Crowell 21:25  Yeah, I think the thing that I loved about that, that kind of buckles right into it, is that change from something like that, you know, it was, it was fast and slow at the same time. And she, she kind of emphasized that it it was quick in the grand scheme of things, but it wasn't quick in the moment, you know. And she said she felt so lost, and was, was like she talked about, you know, having the will to live, you know. And she realized that, she realized the necessity of trying to be happy. She said it was a long journey, but it was her truth, and that her advice for others starting their wellness journey is to just start with one thing, one thing at a time, and give yourself time to do the one thing like this isn't like one thing today and a new thing tomorrow, and a new thing the next day and a new thing the next day. Just like, just focus on one thing. I mean, we're talking obsessive compulsive in in a way that I've only seen portrayed in movies. You know, flip the lights on and off multiple times, open and shut the door multiple times, stand up, sit down. She mentioned something about checking her books, something like 46 times. I don't understand that, you know. I don't even understand what that why she's doing when she's when someone would be doing that.Lesley Logan 22:51  I know I think like, it's like, now I want to know more about OCD, because I do think people flip it and go, oh, I have OCD. Oh, you know. And I like, and maybe you do, but if.Brad Crowell 23:03  I think there are different, like, extremes of OCD.Brad Crowell 23:05  But like, this is completely time-consuming. I mean, she had a traumatic.Brad Crowell 23:14  You mentioned that you were like, man, that must have been so much time. And she said, you don't even know. She's like, yeah, it was a lot of time. Lesley Logan 23:14  Yeah, like, and, of course, that's what I focused on. Like, how much time is that? Like? Just seems like a lot of time. Is one reason why I could, I don't think I could become OCD because, like, I just can't. I hate wasting time that would really.Brad Crowell 23:27  Yeah, really what she what she said was quick was the breaking of the habits. And she said that was, and that was also from a interestingly, it was like a traumatic moment snapped her out of the some of the habits that she had formed. And it was her grandfather. She got news that her grandfather was, I don't remember if he was diagnosed or if he had actually passed away yet, but she, like he, he was incredibly important to her and and there was, like this, this moment of clarity that really changed things for her. And it's she stopped the habits, and then she's, you know, so now she's not, you know, checking her books 46 times, standing up and sitting down, 15 times, you know. And she said, all of a sudden, I had so much time on my hands. And then she asked, like she said, you know, what are you going to do with it? You might as well do something that makes you feel happier with that time.Lesley Logan 24:22  Yeah. And I think, like, I think how cool that she got to do it at such such a young age. Because I and now she's, like, her whole life is so different. She has an amazing podcast. She's got a kid and, like, and. Brad Crowell 24:34  Yeah it sounds like she connected with a really supportive boyfriend, and now husband, who happens to have a great name. Lesley Logan 24:40  Yeah, is it Brad? Brad Crowell 24:43  It is and, but he, he, you know, was helping her through the steps that that, like, like, kind of, I guess helping her through is the wrong way out. He was there alongside her, through the change. Lesley Logan 24:54  And I think, you know, I think that can go both ways. I think it could be like, oh, my. God, like I if you're alone and like, I just wish I had someone to go through this with. If you are currently alone, you, there are, there might be someone you can hire or like a person to go through with, that like you could bring on versus a partner. Because not every partner, like, don't like, not every partner is as great as this person, right? So she had a perfect person to be on her side who would like, could see the person she wanted to become, and could envision that dream and like, be there for all the journey. But you might end up finding out you're with someone who doesn't want to be part of that journey, and then it makes it so. I would just say, like, don't be jealous, or think it, the grass is green on that side. If you're wanting to make a change like this, there are people out there who want to help you. You know, there are, there are services out there. And I that's one of the things I find so fast, and the more I learn about services in the world, there are literally services. There is a charity who will do anything. So, like, there's going to be someone out there, you it's not the easiest thing to, like, look for help. But like, we had that one guy on who talked about all the different ways you can get money or food or diapers. We just found out from the charity we donate to that they will help people who can't afford dog food get dog food so they can keep the dog so the dogs are not going to the shelter. So like, there is some so if you are needing help with something right now, and her journey has, like, sparked something new, like, please advocate for yourself to get help.Brad Crowell 26:23  Yeah, there's a community called the International OCD Foundation, or the IOCDF, and it provides education, resources, community support, professional training, you know, so you can there definitely are tools, you know, if you are feeling isolated, yeah.Lesley Logan 26:40  I love it. I think it's really, I think it's really cool. I don't, I don't know anyone who's had this, but I've always wondered, like, what it's like, and it was really nice of her to share that with us and then share how she's changed her life.Brad Crowell 26:52  Yeah, yeah. Lesley Logan 26:53  It's a true be it till you see it story. Lesley Logan 26:56  I'm it was, you know, and I'm excited for her that she, you know, has been moving forward and building these things, and, you know, starting a family and doing all this stuff. So that's great. It's, you know, I think she's clearly doing things that are making her happier. So, good for her. Brad Crowell 27:12  Yeah, we can all learn from that. Yeah. Brad Crowell 27:13  Yeah. Stick around, we'll be right back. We're going to dig into those, Be It Action Items that we had with Meghan Pherrill. Brad Crowell 27:22  All right, so finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your convo with Meghan Pherrill? She said, hey, start with meditating five minutes a day. It will absolutely change your life, just five minutes. And she said, if you're brand new to this, maybe set aside 10 minutes so that you can get five minutes in, because it is hard. You know, I can tell you from personal experience, what do you think about when you're meditating? Are you supposed to think about things? Are you like? You know, I don't really know. I've all these preconceived notions of what it is, she said, but ultimately, recognize that you can five minutes is just five minutes. You got this, right, but she said, choose a style that resonates with you. She said if you struggle with to quiet your mind, but you can listen, maybe you do an opted maybe you do a guided meditation where you're listening to a YouTube video. I've done this, you know, and that's I find that really helpful, because it allows me to focus on something instead of just letting my mind wander. If you prefer physical a physical element, you can try breath work style meditation, which obviously we've also done, especially with your, you know, being breathwork certified, and then that will really help you focus on your breath and, you know, counting and just focusing on that thing. You know, for you know, we often talk about in yoga and in Pilates, that it is a movement meditation, because when you're when you're when you are so focused on the movement, you cannot think about anything else like there's no room for it in your head. And that is a form of meditation, right? That's where that mind body connection starts to happen, kind of a thing. And she said there's plenty of relatable teachers and resources out there. Find someone online. You can find someone on YouTube or podcast apps who you like their voice.Lesley Logan 29:13  There is this one person who I heard on a podcast when she said that she has an 11-second meditation, she turns it on, and the person goes, inhale, exhale. That's 11 seconds. Brad Crowell 29:32  Amazing. Lesley Logan 29:33  Yeah. Brad Crowell 29:34  Well, you too can meditate. And then she said get comfortable. And she said, some people like to meditate first thing in the morning. So if you're getting comfortable in your bed, make sure you sit up, otherwise you're just gonna fall back asleep. But meditation doesn't require a rigid posture, per se, right? You don't need to be like stiff as a statue, or like a monk or whatever. You can lie down, or you can be in a comfortable position, you know, just be aware that it's you know. If you're doing it right after you've woken up, you might just fall back asleep on your seat. Brad Crowell 29:59  I get in the cold plunge before I meditate. That's just like, it's not gonna happen.Brad Crowell 30:04  Hey, that's a great idea. It's a great idea. And then you know when, when the two you're talking you were talking about permission to be imperfect, right? It's not about being perfectly still or having the clearest mind. It's about being kind to ourselves and setting aside time to let our brain think and process things, and you know, in a subconscious way that we're not like actively, you know, we're creating space for that's what the meditation will do.Lesley Logan 30:34  Yeah, we talked a little bit about one more thing that I think, is it's, it's really beautiful, and it kind of springs true with last week. So if you're avoiding last week's Be It Action Item, this is gonna keep knocking on your door until you do it. But first she said, follow that intuition of yours. Just run with it and go with it. I'm studying tarot right now, and you'll know why, because we have a tarot guest coming up. I'm studying it. And the High Priestess card is all about the intuition. And like, like, going into your intuition and having some making sure that you're, like, understanding, because it's mystery. Like, intuition is also like, a mystery, right? Like, what is it? What am I saying? What am I feeling? Is that my is that my words? But anyways, so you can think of it as a High Priestess card and learning about that. Or you can figure out, like, how, how do you best understand what your intuition is saying, What does it sound like to you? So she said, just whatever's calling you or resonate with you. Follow that intuition of yours. Just run with it and go with it like just leap, right? And then she also said, don't make it complicated. Just start and see how you feel. And she also reminded us to give it some time too. It's not a one time thing. So we said it before, we're saying it again, not a one-time thing, you have to keep doing it. And she also said, as you're doing it, how did I feel? How did I feel? And that's so important, because we know from how habits are truly created, it has to actually bring joy. And dopamine, get your dopamine high. If you don't, you're not going to get that habit. If it feels like it's shameful, or like you're judging yourself, it's possible that's not your intuition, and you're following someone else's thing, so.Brad Crowell 32:06  I think, I think that's one of the things I constantly remind myself, but also when people ask me, why do you do a cold plunge every morning? You know it's a decision. But how do I feel afterwards? I've been describing it as the best cup of coffee I didn't have. Yeah, you know, you feel alert, awake immediately, and the cold is only cold for a second. Right? And now, like, because I've done it so many times that, like, shock of cold water isn't really even there anymore, even when, when the when the temperatures in the 40s, you know? Because, yeah, it's cold, but, like, I already know what to expect. But afterwards, even with just three minutes, it feels, you feel your brain is going it is actually functioning. You're up and at 'em. It's awesome, so.Lesley Logan 33:03  I hate it and love it, and I actually, I was on Meghan's podcast, and she asked me about cold plunging, and she was like, yeah, because everyone's saying, like, you shouldn't cold like, women shouldn't cold plunge. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Because being a woman means being told to cold plunge and not cold plunge. Being told, being told to do this and not do this. It's like, it's like, just, we talked about in Amy Ledin's pod episode that's coming out in December, and we're talking about habits. We're gonna have a whole habit series. So this really is building up for that. But like being a woman today, with everyone going wear a weight vest, it's not gonna do anything. Do a cold plunge. It's the worst thing you can do during a little cycle. Blah, blah, blah, I told Meghan, I said, I don't actually care. I and you have to listen to the whole conversation, but I'm summarizing. I said, it makes me feel good, and that's all that matters. And when it doesn't make me feel good anymore, then maybe I do something different. But I'm only in it for four minutes, and I'm doing it for 15 minutes every day. It's four minutes, and it really does shake the sleep off, bring me to my life, and it makes me excited to start the day. Yeah, and I can't Why? How could anything be bad? If it makes you so excited to take on your day, there's no way that could be bad for me. Impossible.Brad Crowell 34:21  Well, Meghan's podcast is called Balance Your Life. I'm just gonna look up really quick.Lesley Logan 34:26  What episode number I was? Brad Crowell 34:27  Yeah, and I'm not sure exactly, so. Lesley Logan 34:37  I don't either, but it's, it's out. It came out. Brad Crowell 34:40  Did it? Cool. Lesley Logan 34:42  I think so.Brad Crowell 34:43  Yeah go look at the Balance Your Life pod.Lesley Logan 34:47  It's one of the top podcasts in Canada, so it's super cool Way to go, Meghan, I'm Lesley Logan. Brad Crowell 34:52  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 34:53  Thank you so much for listening to us. Send in your wins, send in your questions. Send this to a friend who needs to hear it, and until next time, Be It Till You See It. Brad Crowell 34:59  Bye for now. Lesley Logan 35:00  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 35:43  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 35:48  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 35:53  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 36:00  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 36:03  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

FOLLOW RICHARD Website: https://www.strangeplanet.ca YouTube: @strangeplanetradio Instagram: @richardsyrettstrangeplanet TikTok: @therealstrangeplanet EP. #1261 HOLLYWOOD'S “SHHH” TATTOO: DEAD GIRL IN A TESLA, STAR IN THE CROSSHAIRS In the neon shadows of Hollywood, a disturbing discovery has ripped through the façade of fame. The decomposed remains of 15-year-old runaway Celeste Rivas Hernandez were found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to rising music star d4vd. Her cryptic “Shhh” tattoo, shared by celebrities from Rihanna to Lindsay Lohan, raises haunting questions: coincidence—or code? As investigators probe, whispers of trafficking, grooming, and elite cover-ups intensify. Private investigator Nils Grevillius joins me to dissect this chilling case and expose how power, secrecy, and predation still define Tinseltown's darkest underbelly. GUEST: Nils Grevillius is a relentless private detective with over four decades of experience exposing Hollywood's darkest corners. Cutting his teeth on the infamous 1981 Wonderland Murders—where drugs, pornography, and organized crime collided with the entertainment world—Nils has spent his career unraveling webs of corruption, trafficking, and clandestine networks linking elites to criminal syndicates. His investigations have ranged from City Hall corruption to cross-border smuggling rings, always revealing how power shields predators. He is the author of the noir novella Luke Fitz Collection: A City of Devils, Sub Rosa, Skulldiggery, Horseplay, and Suicide Jack and the One-Eyed King. WEBSITE: https://grevilliuspi.com BOOKS: A City of Devils (The Luke Fitz Collection Book 1) Sub Rosa (The Luke Fitz Collection Book 2) Skulldiggery (The Luke Fitz Collection Book 3) Horse Play (The Luke Fitz Collection Book 4) Suicide Jack and the One Eyed King (The Luke Fitz Collection Book 5) SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! ⁠FABRIC BY GERBER LIFE⁠ Life insurance that's designed to be fast and affordable. You could get instant coverage with no medical exam for qualified applicants.   Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family.  Apply today in just minutes at ⁠meet fabric dot com slash STRANGE⁠ ⁠TESBROS⁠ We're a small business built by Tesla owners, for Tesla owners. Everything we do is about helping our customers customize, protect, and maintain their ride — whether it's through our products or YouTube how-tos and reviews.  Go to⁠ tesbros.com⁠ and use code POD15 for 15% off your first order. ⁠⁠BUTCHERBOX⁠⁠ ButcherBox delivers better meat and seafood straight to your door – including 100% grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, pork raised crate-free, and wild-caught seafood. Right now, ButcherBox is offering our listeners $20 off their first box and free protein for a year. Go to ⁠⁠ButcherBox.com/strange⁠⁠ to get this limited time offer and free shipping always. Don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you. HIMS - Making Healthy and Happy Easy to Achieve Sexual Health, Hair Loss, Mental Health, Weight Management START YOUR FREE ONLINE VISIT TODAY - ⁠HIMS dot com slash STRANGE⁠ ⁠https://www.HIMS.com/strange⁠ ⁠QUINCE BEDDING⁠ Cool, Relaxed Bedding. Woven from 100% European flax linen. Visit ⁠QUINCE BEDDING⁠ to get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.   ⁠BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER!!!⁠  ⁠https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm⁠  Three monthly subscriptions to choose from.  Commercial Free Listening, Bonus Episodes and a Subscription to my monthly newsletter, InnerSanctum.  Visit ⁠https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm⁠ Use the discount code "Planet" to receive $5 OFF  off any subscription.  We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm/

D4VD Death Investigation: She Had His Tattoo. Then She Was Found in His Car. FBI Profiler Weighs In. Celeste Rivas and D4vd reportedly had matching “Shhh…” tattoos on their index fingers. That detail alone opens a disturbing window into power dynamics, secrecy, and control. In this segment, FBI behavioral expert Robin Dreeke joins me to unpack the non-forensic evidence that tells a story: matching tattoos, digital closeness, and the decision to wrap Celeste's body in plastic and hide her in the trunk of a car. These choices speak volumes. We explore:  – How adult predators often mark their victims with shared symbols—tattoos, jewelry, even lyrics  – Why body concealment is one of the clearest indicators of post-crime psychological strategy  – What it suggests when someone abandons a vehicle with a wrapped body inside  – And how grooming over time leads to psychological dependency, isolation, and silence This isn't just about a car and a body. It's about behavioral control over a vulnerable teenager and a trail of choices that don't add up to innocence. As of now, no one has been arrested. The cause of death is pending. But these behavioral markers raise serious, unanswered questions. You can't ignore the patterns. Because predators rely on everyone else doing just that.

D4VD Death Investigation: She Had His Tattoo. Then She Was Found in His Car. FBI Profiler Weighs In. Celeste Rivas and D4vd reportedly had matching “Shhh…” tattoos on their index fingers. That detail alone opens a disturbing window into power dynamics, secrecy, and control. In this segment, FBI behavioral expert Robin Dreeke joins me to unpack the non-forensic evidence that tells a story: matching tattoos, digital closeness, and the decision to wrap Celeste's body in plastic and hide her in the trunk of a car. These choices speak volumes. We explore:  – How adult predators often mark their victims with shared symbols—tattoos, jewelry, even lyrics  – Why body concealment is one of the clearest indicators of post-crime psychological strategy  – What it suggests when someone abandons a vehicle with a wrapped body inside  – And how grooming over time leads to psychological dependency, isolation, and silence This isn't just about a car and a body. It's about behavioral control over a vulnerable teenager and a trail of choices that don't add up to innocence. As of now, no one has been arrested. The cause of death is pending. But these behavioral markers raise serious, unanswered questions. You can't ignore the patterns. Because predators rely on everyone else doing just that.

D4VD Death Investigation: She Had His Tattoo. Then She Was Found in His Car. FBI Profiler Weighs In. Celeste Rivas and D4vd reportedly had matching “Shhh…” tattoos on their index fingers. That detail alone opens a disturbing window into power dynamics, secrecy, and control. In this segment, FBI behavioral expert Robin Dreeke joins me to unpack the non-forensic evidence that tells a story: matching tattoos, digital closeness, and the decision to wrap Celeste's body in plastic and hide her in the trunk of a car. These choices speak volumes. We explore:  – How adult predators often mark their victims with shared symbols—tattoos, jewelry, even lyrics  – Why body concealment is one of the clearest indicators of post-crime psychological strategy  – What it suggests when someone abandons a vehicle with a wrapped body inside  – And how grooming over time leads to psychological dependency, isolation, and silence This isn't just about a car and a body. It's about behavioral control over a vulnerable teenager and a trail of choices that don't add up to innocence. As of now, no one has been arrested. The cause of death is pending. But these behavioral markers raise serious, unanswered questions. You can't ignore the patterns. Because predators rely on everyone else doing just that.

What's your most loved and least favourite song on Everything But The Girl's debut 1984 album, Eden? Jim picked this purdy teen fave so we got to talk about our young twee/jazzy leanings. Quietest album we've ever ranked? Shhh. Maybe. Love Jones singer Jonathan Palmer swings in with his thoughts and opinions!   Available at WeWillRankYouPod.com, Apple, Spotify and everywhere you get podcasts but...there.  Please tell us how YOU would rank tonight's tunes on Instagram, Facebook and Threads  @wewillrankyoupod !FILE UNDER/SPOILERS:Another Bridge, Aztec Camera, Bittersweet, Blanco y Negro, Simon Booth, bossa nova, Crabwalk (Instrumental), Joao Bosco De Oliveira, the Doors, The Dustbowl, Each and Every One, Echo and the Bunnymen, Eden, England, Even So, Everything But The Girl, Fascination, Jane Fox, Frost and Fire, Hammond organ, Happy Mondays, Charles Hayward, Hull, I Must Confess, indie pop, jazz, Pete King, Love Jones, Marine Girls, Chucho Merchán, Robin Millar, Missing, Nigel Nash, new wave, Night and Day, Jonathan Palmer, Dick Pearce, Mike Pela, Sade, samba, saxophone, the Smiths, Soft Touch, The Spice of Life, the Style Council, Tender Blue, there's a, Tracey Thorn, Ben Watt, Paul Weller, 1984. US: http://www.WeWillRankYouPod.com wewillrankyoupod@gmail.comNEW! Host tips: Venmo @wewillrankyoupodhttp://www.facebook.com/WeWillRankYouPodhttp://www.instagram.com/WeWillRankYouPodhttps://www.threads.net/@WeWillRankYouPodhttp://www.YerDoinGreat.com (Adam's music page)https://open.spotify.com/user/dancecarbuzz (Dan's playlists)

Keke tells us all about her wedding venue tour. Plus, find out why Paul got ghosted on an all new Waiting by the Phone. And, do you think Shelly can start the week off with a W? Find out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠Analytic Dreamz investigates the chilling September 8, 2025, discovery of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez's severely decomposed remains in a bag inside the front trunk of a Tesla registered to rising singer d4vd (David Anthony Burke, 20). Missing since April 5, 2024, from Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, the 5'1" teen with wavy black hair was last seen heading to a movie with her brother. Identified September 11 by Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, she wore a tube top, black leggings, yellow bracelet, and stud earrings—plus a "Shhh…" tattoo on her right index finger, matching d4vd's own ink, sparking intense speculation.LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division leads the ongoing homicide probe, cause of death deferred pending toxicology. The abandoned Tesla, towed from Hollywood Hills after 72+ hours on a public street (not reported stolen), belongs to d4vd among his fleet, reportedly used by multiple people. No suspects or arrests yet; d4vd, Houston-born TikTok sensation with 3.8M followers, 2M+ on Instagram, and "Romantic Homicide" surpassing 1B Spotify streams, was touring abroad on his Withered World Tour—cooperating fully with police, per reps. Seattle's September 10 show canceled; San Francisco's September 19 at The Warfield proceeds, with LA September 20 and overseas October 1 legs intact. Post-Coachella 2025 debut album buzz, backlash hits: Crocs and Hollister dropped campaign ties amid fan grief and online theories.Analytic Dreamz unpacks the tragedy's ties to d4vd's fame, family devastation—Celeste's mother flagged the tattoo match to TMZ—and LAPD calls for no speculation as forensics continue. Tune in for raw analysis on this missing teen nightmare engulfing hip-hop's next big name.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Amy and T.J. talk about the disturbing new details emerging, after reports the decomposed body found in the trunk of singer D4vd’s Tesla was missing teen, 15 year old Celeste Rivas. The teen’s mom told TMZ she has the same Shhh tattoo as D4vd and just a short while ago, it appears D4vd, who’s been on a world wide tour, has cancelled tonight’s concert in Seattle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy and T.J. talk about the disturbing new details emerging, after reports the decomposed body found in the trunk of singer D4vd’s Tesla was missing teen, 15 year old Celeste Rivas. The teen’s mom told TMZ she has the same Shhh tattoo as D4vd and just a short while ago, it appears D4vd, who’s been on a world wide tour, has cancelled tonight’s concert in Seattle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy and T.J. talk about the disturbing new details emerging, after reports the decomposed body found in the trunk of singer D4vd’s Tesla was missing teen, 15 year old Celeste Rivas. The teen’s mom told TMZ she has the same Shhh tattoo as D4vd and just a short while ago, it appears D4vd, who’s been on a world wide tour, has cancelled tonight’s concert in Seattle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy and T.J. talk about the disturbing new details emerging, after reports the decomposed body found in the trunk of singer D4vd’s Tesla was missing teen, 15 year old Celeste Rivas. The teen’s mom told TMZ she has the same Shhh tattoo as D4vd and just a short while ago, it appears D4vd, who’s been on a world wide tour, has cancelled tonight’s concert in Seattle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shhh! Keep your voice down, this is a library. Or at least this is an episode about the Hutchinson Public Library. A haunted one at that though it seems like there is a little bit of main character syndrome going on with the ghost. Seems like the librarian who worked here couldn't keep away for long, even in death. We love libraries even if they aren't haunted like the Hutchinson supposedly is. Let us know if you've found anything creepy in the stacks of your local library too!We'd appreciate it if you took a moment to help our podcast by rating and reviewing on apple and NOW on Spotify! Leave us a comment on how you liked the episode or where we should cover next! Don't forget to check our show notes for our social links! Definitely check out our Instagram (@hauntedorhoaxpod). We post all photos and videos talked about in the show there!Haunted or Hoax Social Medias:WebsiteInstagramTwitterFacebookSources for this Episode:TELEVISION & MEDIA:WEBSITES:http://hutchcollegian.com/2018/10/19/spooky-legends-local-library-lore/https://www.facebook.com/groups/2866732086900603/posts/4034052716835195/ 

What happens when culture and vision clash? In this episode, we take a page out of the Dallas Cowboy's playbook and examine what happens when leadership and the team are not aligned. We look at what job satisfaction can lead to and how Micah Parson's should already have been re-signed... well maybe not the last part so much. Resources: Andrew@ataleoftwohygienists.com https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4766