Break A Leg
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Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another Chasing the Sweet Things in Life with Paul and James. This is the Sweet Paul podcast, and today's episode is... It's actually episode seven. Can you believe it? Oh my gosh, lucky seven. I know, and today's episode is not... It's not so lucky. Not so lucky. No, it's called Break a Leg. Break a leg. We will get back to that. Yes. Yeah.

It's freezing cold. I know. Here in Palm Springs. Is it October? It's almost November. And it's what? It's actually, it's 60. It's Halloween today.

Oh, happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Well, you're going to hear this a week later, but yes. Yeah. Yes, I hope you had fun. We're recording this on Halloween. Yeah, it's 63. 63 degrees. I'm shivering. 63 degrees. I know. I had to put, when I walked the dogs this morning, I had to put on sweatpants and a sweater. And that's the first time since we moved here. Yeah. I love it. It feels kind of amazing. It feels amazing. It feels like fall. Yeah.

It actually feels like winter in the desert. So I lit the candle. Yes. So to keep us warm here. We're sitting in the dining room and we have a candle to keep us warm. I know. Pray for us. We're shivering. Yes. Speaking of cold, it's much colder in Norway than it is here. Yes. Than the desert? Yeah. Yeah.

Totally. Yeah, you know, Norway is a winter wonderland. Yeah. Was there snow every winter? Growing up? Growing up. Oh, totally. Tons of it? Tons. Wow. Yeah, so much that we could build like igloos and like snow caves and stuff. Oh, yeah. And we had the, what's it called? You know, the car that shovels the snow.

The plow? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So the plow would come every time it snowed and it would actually dump all the snow outside my friend Rudy's house. Oh my God. I know.

Pour them. Oh, that's sort of where it would end. That's where it would end. Turn around or pull back. Yeah, exactly. But all the snow got kind of stuck there. Yeah. That they plowed from the streets. And it was an amazing place to like dig out. Yeah, you played. That was your like. Yeah, of course. Oh my gosh. That's so cool. And we would wear, you know. In Norway, we have this saying. There's no bad weather. It's only bad clothing.

yeah so you know we would yeah inappropriate clothing when it's hot or it's cold yeah yeah i would you know we would have these like thermo you know isolated suits when we went outside and you know it was just yeah so did you wore like a thin like a well first we wore like long johns yeah in wool oh well which i hated because they were kind of itchy yeah this is before like you know

My parents didn't buy me... Thinsulate or whatever. Well, they didn't buy me cashmere long johns. Okay, yeah. I should have called Save the Children. Oh, I mean... I know. He had that and wool socks and then usually like pants and wool sweaters. And then I would... I remember I always had this... We called it in Norway hals, which means neck. It was this kind of like a turtleneck, but it was just...

down to your chest. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like a fake turtleneck. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I've seen those, actually. I would wear those. And was that just like kind of like, it did what a scarf would do, but it was. Yes, but it was stuck there. You couldn't move it. Yeah. You know, you couldn't lose it because I would always lose scarves and mittens. And I remember my grandmother bought me these things that

clipped onto my jacket and then clipped onto my mittens. Yeah, you won't lose them. For sure. And then, yeah, we would have these waterproof, isolated, kind of like a onesie, but it was for outerwear. Yes. And of course, boots and mittens. So you would get...

all dolled up and then go play in the mountain of snow in front of Rudy's house. Yes. And then, of course, if you had to pee, that was like a nightmare. Yeah. I mean, it's so funny to think about because it's almost like a Christmas story, like the movie. No, no. It's like a comedy. Yeah, exactly like that. And, oh my God, we even had, you know, in the Christmas story, it's the guy that licks the lamp post. Yeah. Yeah, we had that too. Yeah, you would get stuck. Oh, yeah. I remember he ripped...

He got so panicked that he ripped and he couldn't speak properly for like weeks. Your friend? Yeah, my little friend. Oh, someone. Oh. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. That's awful. I know. But yeah, we would. Oh, my God. It was so much fun to like play in that house and we would play mommy and we always called it like play mommy and daddy. Do you have that hair? Yeah.

You see the winter is coming. Please send us. Yeah, exactly. Penicillin. Oh my gosh. Pneumonia. Antibiotics. It's below 65 degrees. I know. We're shivering. The threat of pneumonia. We might have to go to the hot tub later. Yeah. You mean playing house? Oh, is that what you call it? Yeah. Yeah. You know the funny thing? I always wanted to be the aunt. The aunt.

The aunt. Oh, really? Oh my gosh. That is so cute. I know. And Rudy had Barbies and we would play with her Barbies. And I remember one time, this was actually in summer, but we played outside with her Barbies. And, you know, her Barbie was, we were all like getting ready to go to work.

In our Barbie life. Yeah. And I think she was like a doctor or a lawyer or something. Guess what mine was? Stewardess. No, she was the woman that screams out the numbers at bingo. Oh my gosh. She's a bingo hostess.

That was her career. And apparently I went up to this little rock and I sat there and I was like, 64, 64, 59, 59. That is so funny. I know. Love it.

So this weekend, literally this weekend, November 9th, Saturday, November 9th, we are doing the first event in our holiday run of the Mojave Flea at the Lab Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa. What's an anti-mall? Well, it's exactly that. It's like a cool, hip...

complex that's been in Costa Mesa for 25 years. It's just over the road from the iconic South Coast Plaza, which is the high-end shopping mall. Oh, yeah. Well, they created this, you know,

Anti-Mall, which has been there since the 90s. And it was one of the original locations for Urban Outfitters, which is actually still there. Tower Records was there back in the day. And now it's grown into this huge complex with a brewery and restaurants and all these little mom-and-pop retail shops. And

And so we're popping up there with a group of about 40 makers and merchants from the desert, from Southern California. And we'll be there this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. So if you live in the OC, come say hi. And I'm going to be there too. Yeah. See you there. Okay, back to... So, yeah, you know what they say in Norway is that every Norwegian is born with skis on his and her legs. Yeah. Yeah.

Didn't happen to me. No, you didn't get them? No, I did not get the skis. Yeah, I mean, it's the culture of winter outdoor activities is huge there. Oh, yeah. And, you know, we played outside all winter, all day. Yeah. You know? Did you sled, like, on the mountain in front of Rudy's house? Yeah, we sled. That's fun. Yeah, and we did something very...

We did something very dangerous. And then, okay, so there was skiing, which is, what is it called? Nordic? Cross-country. Cross-country. Yes. But then, of course, my family discovered downhill skiing.

Okay, so that makes sense. So a lot of the skiing was cross-country from hotel to hotel. Yes, that was all cross-country. Which is probably less difficult, but more exhausting. Boring and tedious. And you needed more endurance. Yeah, and I was terrible at going downhill on skis. I would always fall at the bottom. Always. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So they, of course, and then slalom, as we call it. Yeah. Downhill. I was older age. And my whole family, especially my dad and my sister, was really good at it. Yeah. And for one Christmas, I got the freaking skis, just the downhill skis and boots. Oh, okay. And I was like, oh, crap.

I hate this now. I like have to use them. Yeah. So the next time. How old were you? Maybe like 10, 10, 11. Yeah. And my sister would ski from she was like four. She was just like swish, swish, swish, swish down the hills. She even did like snowboarding. But yeah. Okay. So the next time we went up to the mountains for Easter, brought the skis.

We went to the slope, put them on, everything is ready, but they're so... I was used to cross-country skis that are kind of like...

but not like super slippery. And I wasn't, you know, have you ever had the downhill? No. No, they're super slippery. Oh, no, I've done downhill skiing once, but what's the difference in cross-country skis? Are they the same length and everything? No, cross-country is longer. Okay. And back then they were wood. Yeah. And you had to prepare them every time you went out to ski, all depending on how the temperatures were. Yeah. Yeah.

So, you know, the downhill skis are really, really slippery. Yes. So, of course, I had a problem with that. I would fall all the time. And then I couldn't get my ass on that, you know, the lift. Oh, my God. I would fall off every time. And people were laughing at me. And it was like a disaster. Yeah. And, you know, I was pleasantly plump. And I had a light blue. My mom had bought me a light blue jacket.

downhill suit. So I looked like a, I don't know. Pansy. Yeah. It was not a good look. I mean, who buys their pleasantly plump sun and light blue suit now? Yeah. Who's struggling with everything. Oh my God. It's okay. I built character. Yeah. And I got finally, I got up to the top and I started, I think I went like

Three feet. Uh-huh. I fell. Uh-huh. And I took them off and I walked out. Oh, my God. Yeah. That was the last time I did downhill. Yeah. I was just, I could not deal with it. Yeah. Yeah.

My parents sold the boots and the skis. Yeah. On Craigslist. List after. Craigslist? Well, you know. Some sort of. They just sold them. Yeah. Yeah. Done. So that was the end of your. That was the end of my downhill skiing career. Yeah. And the end of my cross-country skiing came the year after. So the story is that.

There was this one boy in class that I kind of had a crush on. Yeah. And all my girlfriends were, we all just said, oh, let's go skiing this weekend. And I was like, excuse me? And they were like, yeah, we're going to, you know, I can't remember his name. I think maybe it was Bedra.

But it's going to come. And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, I'll go skiing. Yeah. So we all went into the mountains where we lived because there was, you know, we lived outside of Oslo and it was actually a really nice place to go skiing. Yeah. In the woods there. Yeah. So we went and of course I was a total disaster. And what happened was that I took a break. I guess I was like out of breath and I stood completely still.

And somehow I slipped. Yeah. And I broke my leg. Oh, my God. Well, that's sort of the thing. I don't think you're supposed to stand still. Well, like it's like you got to keep it moving. Well, yeah, I stood still and total freak accident. I broke my leg. Oh, my God. Yeah. And of course. What a nightmare. Yeah. And we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere. With your crush. With my crush. And I was, you know, completely devastated. Yeah.

And these older kids came and they tried to build this like kind of like a sled out of branches and stuff. But of course, I was too heavy for it. So it just like broke down. Yeah. So one of those kids, so they asked for the phone number of my house. So they went and called. And went and called. And my dad came with like a...

a proper, what's it called? Stretcher? Yeah, kind of something like that. And got me out, went to the hospital. I got a cast on my leg. It was completely broken. And what happened was that the day I got my cast off, I went down to the basement, actually the garage where my skis was, and these were wooden skis. And I took an axe and

And I chopped up my skis. You did? I did. Oh, my God. You had had enough? I had completely enough.

Wow. And after that, my parents never mentioned me and skiing ever again. Of course not. So when we went to the mountains, I didn't bring any skis and they never asked me to like... To join you. No. So you were happy in front of the fire with your hot chocolate from then on. My hot chocolate, a piece of apple cake and a good book. Well, good for you. I know. Oh my gosh. You probably milked that for...

Of course. Or it just freed you from... But did you like... Yeah, I milked it in several ways. I got some cute outfits out of it. Love it. But I remember I was just getting into Lacoste. You know those sweatshirts? And I think I got like four Lacoste shirts. As compensation. As shirts out of it. And then I remember they had these huge...

They had these white socks with two little thin green stripes and a crocodile on them. And I got two pairs of those. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Because, you know. You had to endure the humiliation of participating in a family sport. Yes. I'm sure it was a terror. Getting, like, my meals served in my room and, you know. Oh, yeah. My grandmother. How long did you have the cast on? I think for, like, three or four weeks. Yeah. You know, I was humping around and.

Yeah, it was. Yeah, I think, thank goodness I've never broken anything. But I think if I broke my leg, I wouldn't leave the house until it was healed. Because it just seems like such a nightmare. Well, I think it's different today. I mean, I had this like huge freaking cast. And today I think they put like some other things on it. But just to use like crutches and try to like, I mean, the whole thing is like.

No, and it was impossible to get in and out of a car. Yeah, exactly. So my social life was completely ruined. Oh, yes. I broke my arm once, too. You did? Yeah, in winter. You fell? I was running on the... It had just snow, and I was running...

I think to get a bus or something. And I didn't see that there was ice under the... Yeah. So I broke my arm. I've been very lucky. I've slipped two or three times on the ice in New York and never hurt myself. Yeah. That's good. Like, yeah, I'm very lucky. Knock on bamboo. Yeah. Yeah. So that was my winter... Nightmares. My winter sport nightmares. Yes. Yes.

I didn't make it to the Olympics. No. I didn't even learn how to skate. Ice skate? No. No, never. And every... That's hard too. It's really hard on your ankles. Well, yes. Here's the thing. I'm not that coordinated. Yeah. You know, it's just hard for me to... Yeah. And that's fine. No kid should be obligated to do...

What anyone else in their family does. No, that's true. But let's face it. In the 70s in Norway, you were supposed to do winter sports. Yeah. And every year I would get my cousin's hand-me-downs, his skis. No, sorry, not his skis, his skates. Yeah.

And you never attempted? I mean, I tried a few times. I mean, even in school, we would have like skating days and ski days where you're supposed to go skiing. Yeah. And skating. And I've tried to skate, but I never...

I'd always fall and it was like complete disaster. Yeah. But yeah, that's how it is to come from a country where, you know, the winter sports are that big. Even the king, I mean. Yeah, I mean, but even here, you know, my brother did every sport. Yeah. He played baseball, he played basketball, and he played football. And I am actually coordinated. And ironically, like when I did kind of,

play sports I was sort of good at it I think or I had the tendency you know the potential to be good at it but I refused to play sports just for political reasons like I was just like no I'm not doing this this is for like basics and

So, we in America, too, I mean, boys are expected to play sports. Yeah. And I remember being really feeling the pressure to play sports when I was young until finally I was like, no. Just say no. Just say no to sports. No. You know, the only sport I thought was fun was actually volleyball. Oh, yeah. Totally. I thought that was kind of fun. Yeah. Tetherball's fun. Volleyball. Volleyball.

For sure. Oh, and in the background, the stat snoring. As usual. With his eyes open. It's so weird. Okay. Enough about sports. Yes. How about some questions? Yes. Should we take a little break first? Yes. Yes. We'll be right back.

Okay, we need to order Christmas cards. We do. It's coming fast. Yes. And we're going to do it on Minted this year, minted.com. Oh, yeah, that custom stationery company. Because, you know, they have all these amazing artists that has created all these incredible cards. And you just drop in your text and your photos. And a few days later, you have it in the mail. Oh,

Oh, wow. Yeah. And there's hundreds of different designs and templates to choose from. And they're awesome. Beautiful. Yes. Yeah, you can make them extra personalized and special this year. And I think Minted has given us a code. Oh, they have. Yes. For using the code.

code S-P-W-I-N-T-19, like Sweet Paul Winter 19, S-P-W-I-N-T-19, you get 15% off of your order. That's good. You think I can use it too? Can Sweet Paul use the Sweet Paul code? Definitely. I'm going to do that. Do it. You can order at minted.com using promo code S-P-W-I-N-T-19.

Question time. Yes. What's up, sweet Paul? What's up? Okay. We have two questions actually that are similar. So let's go over both of them. Patty asks, I always heard that men with beards are shy. Is that true? And then the second question that's beard related is from Celeste. And she asks, are your magnificent beards as fluffy and soft as they look?

I love this. Okay. Since we both have beards, let's talk about both of them. Okay. Both of these questions. Bearded guys are shy. Well, I can be shy. For sure. I can totally be shy. And I can be a little bit awkward in social situations. Yeah. Sometimes I find it hard to...

And especially if people are very, like, complimentary to me. Yeah. I find that very difficult to deal with. Interesting. Yeah, very. And I think that's because of my upbringing. You know, in Norway, we have something called, actually, all of Scandinavia, we have something called Janteloven, which means the law of Janta. And it starts with, you are not better than anyone else.

Well, that's a socialist manifesto. Yeah, a little bit. You know, it's... Yeah. So, I always had problem with, you know, people coming up to me and say really nice things. Yeah. I'm getting... I'm much better than I used to be. Yeah. But I still have a little bit of like, are you... Like, are you mistaking me as someone else? Yeah. Are you sure? Interesting. We're similar in a lot of ways and probably those ways where...

I am actually kind of a shy person too. Lestat? Lestat is literally... Stop it. No. Okay. We're similar in a lot of ways where I think we both could be shy and

And I'm certainly, like RuPaul says, an introvert that's masquerading as an extrovert. Like, I have the ability to turn it on in certain situations. And I think you too, even with this podcast, we don't sit around talking like this all day long. Don't. No. We know how to, like, turn it on and, like, engage in this way. Yeah. But we're actually pretty quiet the rest of the day. Absolutely. So that is true.

But we also, I think, do appreciate validation in life. Of course. Everyone does. But... This is how I deal with it. Yeah. But I think, and the reason why this is a Sweet Paul podcast, not a...

James podcast is because I think that you do can handle the spotlight a little bit more than I can. I don't like actually being in the spotlight. So we're similar and a little bit different. But it's interesting because I've never really thought about this, but I think classically

Men with beards, yes, might have a shyer disposition. Nowadays, beards are a lot higher. Because we're supposed to be hiding behind our beards? Or it's just, it's like a little bit of hiding, but also a little bit of not interested in being pretty. Hmm.

or just having are you saying i'm not pretty you know what i mean like like having like a pretty face or like being a pretty boy like i'm not interested in any of that so there is sort of like a rebellion to it and a little bit of hiding yes and then also there's i think the sort of like i mean i think it's super handsome and sexy but also there's a cuddly aspect to it but

But also a lot more people are wearing beards now than just... So I don't think you can say that it's a sign of shyness anymore. No, because we know a lot of men with beards that are not shy. Exactly. But, you know, I mean, maybe when it was more... There was fewer people wearing beards. Maybe it was a little bit people who were hiding a little bit more. Now it's like such a...

Kind of like statement. There's a lot of statements. Yeah. A lot of statements. It's much more of a statement and a trend now. But anyway, then in terms of fluffy and soft, yes. When people touch my beard, they say it's actually softer than they imagined it being. Yeah. Mine is not that soft. Mine is kind of coarse. Is it coarse? Yeah. Mine's fluffy and soft. And the thing is, like, people have the misconception that beards are like...

Itchy or abrasive or it's actually like what's more abrasive is shaving your face every day. Oh, it's terrible. And what's even more abrasive, especially to women who have fairer skin and oftentimes it's like who wants stubble? If you're making out with someone that has stubble, it's like sandpaper. I know. Yeah. So a fluffy beard is actually.

than... Yours is very soft. Mine is a little... Than a stubbly beard. Do you put anything in it? No. Yeah, but you're... Anyway, we don't need to talk for 45 minutes about beards, but...

We're going to have a separate episode. Yeah, yeah. The beard. Yeah. But anyway. Yes. His is much softer than mine. Yes. We'll say that. Okay. Okay. Next question. Yes. Stephanie asks, how did you celebrate Halloween? Did you dress up the pups?

Okay. Today is Halloween. And actually, if we're going to dress up, it's actually to be determined. And if we do dress up, we'll post a picture on the Sweet Paul magazine Instagram. But... We're going to our friend John and Randy for Halloween. Yes. Because they live in a house where... In a neighborhood. They actually get...

trick-and-treaters. Yes, and we don't get it here because this is a gated community, so no one can get in. Yeah, we're in an apartment complex. So we're going to go there, and we haven't decided if we're going to dress up. We have a concept in mind, but we also had the idea, because they went to a Halloween party last week or a couple weekends ago where they essentially did John Did Drag, and

And so he has some makeup, but I'm thinking about going and getting some makeup and maybe just doing like some bearded queen looks. Yeah. Like eyes, eyes, eyes category is bearded queen eyes for the first time in drag makeup. So maybe we'll just do that because that'll be fun. Eyes with lashes and... Shadow, lashes, brows, lips, no foundation. My skin is flawless. Okay.

But no, just to do something fun while we're giving out candy and ordering takeout. And so that's, I think, what we're going to do. It's going to be very chill. Whatever we choose to do in terms of a look, whether it's a costume or just eyes done up in makeup for the first time, we'll post a picture. Yes, we'll post a picture. So here's the thing with the pups and dressing up. They absolutely hate it.

I have tried several times to make little things for them, like little hats. Oh, yeah. They do love wearing a t-shirt or a sweater, but I think a costume with something on their head. No, it's just not. Actually, I tried yesterday to make a little Hershey's kiss hat for Hugo in aluminum foil. Yeah.

And he just goes, no. Yeah, they won't sit still. No, I couldn't even get a picture of it. Yeah, so we could put them in a costume like if it was like a ladybug shirt or something, but that's kind of boring. Yeah, they're just not into anything. No, so we'll just give them some dog treats. We can dress them up as French bulldogs. Well, they are French bulldogs. Well, we can dress them up as, you know, we can say they're poodles.

Yeah. Oh, my God. French poodle. We'll dress French bulldogs up as French poodles. French poodles. That would be hilarious, actually. Just like cotton, like little ankle things with like fluffy. That would be actually easy to make with cotton balls. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Daddies, do you want to be a French poodle?

No, he doesn't. He's not interested. Okay. Last question. Yeah. From Donna. Now that you guys live in the desert, how will your holiday traditions be different this year? Is this the first year? It's the first year in Palm Springs, right? Well, we had holidays here last,

Last year. We were here for Christmas. But we didn't have a home. We stayed at a hotel. Yes, yes, yes. So we were staying at a hotel last year because we had driven out. We did an event in Scottsdale, Arizona, at Sahara. We did the first Mojave Flea. And then the second one was in January. So we were just hanging out trying to figure out what our next move was.

Like if we were going to get a short-term place or a long-term, we were just trying to figure it out. So we had gotten a friends and family code at the Saguaro in Palm Springs and we were staying there with the dogs and ended up deciding to go to Phoenix to be with our friends there for Christmas. Yeah.

So we were in the Southwest for Christmas, but we were not in Palm Springs. This year we will be in Palm Springs. No, it will be. I have to say, last year I had no, like, you know, that holiday feeling. Oh, no, it was warm. Yeah, because it was warm. Yeah, it's different because, you know, we've been used to, you know, you use the snow every year and you really get that, like, it's cold and you...

you know, you totally get that feeling. And here it's-- let's face it, it's not the same. The houses do have Christmas lights, I remember, right? Yeah, they do. And they do Christmas lights on the palm trees. And it's actually really, really, really beautiful. Yeah.

We will, of course, do Christmas here. We'll have a little tree and, you know, we'll get a tree. All the good food. We'll turn the air conditioning up really cold. No, I'm excited to spend a proper holiday season in our own little home here. Yeah. This year we'll cook.

We'll have friends over. And it's all about, you know, the thing is that as you get older, traditions change and you make new traditions. So here we just have to come up with our own new traditions. No, but we'll definitely, and maybe Paul will shoot a...

Christmas in the desert story. Yeah. To put out in the magazine next year. Yeah. Cause you know, like incorporating cactus and maybe some palm and

Doing a Mexican-themed ornaments. Only thing I don't want, I don't want a plastic tree. I want a real tree. Oh, no, no, no. A real tree. Yeah, absolutely. People have real trees here. There's lots of... Yeah, we drive past a lot of Christmas tree farms. Yeah. Yeah. So, talking about Christmas, don't forget we're going to have a...

Christmas special and Christmas episode. And we would love some questions for that episode. I've gotten some already, but if you have some, you can send us a direct mail, sweetpaulmagazine Instagram, or...

Email us on podcast at sweetpolemag.com. Yes. Yes, because that will be fun. I think we'll probably record the Christmas episode the week of Thanksgiving. Yeah. And so then it'll come out the following Tuesday. Yeah. Then I'm sure we'll take a little break and be back in. In the new year. Yeah, in the new year.

All right. Okay. I'm freezing. I need to put some pants on. I know. I know. We would love for you to comment and rate us and tell your friends and tell your family and, you know, tell everyone about this podcast. If you enjoy it. Yeah. Spread the word. That would be awesome. Okay. Until next time. Thanks. Bye. Bye.