Coming To America
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Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Sweet Paul Podcast, which is called Chasing the Sweet Things in Life. Yes, we are. And this episode is called Coming to America. You know, like the Eddie Murphy movie? Oh, yeah, because that's just like your life story. Yeah, you know, royalty coming to America. Okay.

I didn't work at the fast food place, but almost. I've never seen that movie. I've seen it years ago. I kind of remember it was funny. Yeah, we should watch that. He's a king coming. Now that we're in quarantine. Yeah.

We can watch. Oh, my God. We'll add it to the list of things to watch. It's so funny. We were talking about it this morning. Like, what are we going to do for weeks and weeks? Yeah. So, pretty much the CDC said for the next eight weeks, no public events, which is what I do for a living. So, we're going to have to...

Get creative for the next eight weeks. So James is going to take up macrame? No. And I'm going to start watercoloring? Absolutely not. Now we need to go for walks? We need to like... Yeah, I actually woke up at three o'clock this morning and started going through it in my head. Yeah. Like, yeah, so crazy. The great thing is, is that we're sort of, we had already sort of winded down our

Our high season out here. On the West Coast. Yeah, on the West Coast. And then the high season on the East Coast doesn't really start this year until July. So, this is actually the perfect time to sort of quarantine for sure. So, I'm very lucky. But yeah, no, it's great though because it's like, you know, it's a time to really just...

breathe and contemplate the world and your life and just appreciate what you have absolutely you know we're here with our little family in this beautiful place so with this view of the mountain and the clouds i know and so we're very lucky and we do have toilet paper we do we have some toilet we have eight rolls of toilet papers yes hopefully we will be fine yes um well we have very hot showers

Yes. Which is better than toilet paper. I don't understand all toilet paper. Yeah, I know. It's very weird. It's really bizarre to me. But all I can say is Miss Corona needs to sashay away. Yeah, sashay away. Yes. She needs to go. Miss Corona virus, sashay away. Yeah, she needs to just disappear because she's making a mess. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Episode 18. Enough about Miss Corona.

Yeah, episode 18. Wow, it goes really fast. So I call this one Coming to America. So it's about me moving to the States. And the funny thing, so I moved to New York. And the funny thing is that I would say five years earlier, I had been to New York for a long weekend, like Thursday to Monday. For the first time? For the first time with my friend, Penta.

which I call Betty. She's a Norwegian fashion designer. She lives in Oslo. And we went to New York together. How old were you? I was like maybe 36. 36, okay. So you had this long career in Europe, styling, making books. Yeah, I think I was around 36. Like 10 years of doing editorial. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, more. Yeah.

I did it for a long time. Remember, I did it also when I came back from Europe. To make it easy. What happened was that, you know, I went for this long weekend with my friend, Betty, and I more or less hated it. Yeah. Yeah, I remember it was October. So, you know, back in Norway, it was kind of cold. So we had packed like...

Pants and jackets and wool and sweaters and stuff because it was, you know, cold in Oslo. So it was warm when you got here? Oh my God. We landed in New York and it was like tropical summer. Oh, interesting. So we had to go out and buy like shorts and t-shirts and stuff like that, which was fine.

Do you remember, did you land during the day when the sun was up? Yes. Do you remember the cab ride into? Yeah, which I thought was like epic. Yeah. When you come in from JFK, it's really amazing. I felt like, I kind of felt like I was in a movie because, you know, you go over the bridges and you're like, oh my God, I've seen this in the movies and on TV shows. I thought that was fabulous. Yeah.

Our hotel was down in Koreatown, around the corner from Macy's. Okay, yes. And I remember...

Like the streets were full of trash. That's not the best place to stay. No. And in the heat, it just smelled so funky. If you were stayed in Midtown or in Soho, you would have had a different... If I stayed at the Plaza, I'm sure everything would have been fine. But we didn't. We were girls on the budget. Yeah. For a long time, and maybe even still, the least expensive hotels are in Koreatown. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember we had to like sit and wait to get to room...

I was so impatient. And I remember I refused to take the subway. I just walked down the stairs and the air and the heat that sort of hit me in the face. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. We're doing the... Interesting. Was it early October? I can't remember. It was just so... It was probably unusually warm. Oh my God. It was so warm. And I didn't understand the whole pricing thing.

You know, it said one price and then they added tax. Was this the first time you came to America? No, but it was different in... I kind of had forgotten about it from Miami. I just like... I remember I bought a pair of shoes and a pair of socks. Plus in Miami, that's not necessarily... That's more like... Yeah, I remember we went to Barney's and I bought a pair of... I remember I bought a pair of Gucci socks.

suede loafers and a pair of socks that i thought was really cute they were red and pink polka dots and i was like oh those are cute i'll check those too and i you know paid and i didn't really pay attention and then my friend was like when we came out she was like you paid a lot of money for that stuff and i was looking at receipt and the socks were comme de garcon it's like 50 socks yeah

Yeah, and I thought the cab drivers were rude. And I remember we only had like 20s and 50s and 100s and they couldn't make change. And it was, yeah. Yeah, it was pain in the ass. Yeah. But one cool thing is that we were walking down Broadway and, you know, my friend was a fashion designer and she was looking for like fashion stuff. And we walked down to Soho and all of a sudden she was like screaming out, oh my God, it's Prada. Yeah.

And then I screamed because across the street, I was like, oh my God, it's Dean and DeLuca. Yeah, absolutely. So what happened when we went first? Iconic. Yeah, we went first to Prada. I looked around. Then we went to Dean and DeLuca. So wait, what year was this? Oh my God, don't ask me stuff like that. I can't remember that. The big store. What year was this? I want to know, was I in New York at that time? Because I was in New York when they opened the Prada store. So this.

90s something you were 36 96 oh no that was five years before okay yeah so we went to the product store and then we went to you know Dina and Luca yeah and I was just like oh my god this is so amazing so we bought up so much stuff like food from Dina and Luca and then we went home

To the hotel room. We ate the food, watched TV, and then we crashed to the left the next morning. Yeah. That's fabulous. But yeah, I just didn't, I don't know. I just didn't get the whole like New York thing. I think the whole, I just thought it was like a city like chaos. Yeah. And the thing is, yeah, totally. And the thing is, if you go there as a tourist, you know, you don't really see...

You don't see, like, the real New York. You look up, like, you know, sort of like the tourist traps. Yeah, for sure. And that was the thing that we, of course, shouldn't have done. Yeah. But the thing is, it's a very complicated city. Like, to know how to get around, especially to move there. Like, all the things you need to do, like, it's complicated. Yeah.

And you don't know where everything is into relation to each other. Because it's actually very simple to get around once you understand it. Of course. But if you don't understand it, it makes no sense. Once you get it, it's totally fine. It's hard to read a subway map. But yeah, I get it. But we walked and was around so much that our flight back to Europe was at night. And we were sitting at the restaurant.

eating like a late lunch before we were heading for the airport and we both fell asleep we woke up by a waiter coming up to us and like hey you guys can't sleep i know yeah the funny thing is that on the way on the flight back i turned to my friend and i say you know something i've done new york i don't really need to go back interesting isn't that crazy yeah okay let's take a little break and then we'll talk about when i came back to new york yeah

And we're back. So how much time passed before your first time and when you moved? I would say five, six years. Oh, okay. Five or six years. Yeah. Okay. So we actually moved to New York around the same time. I moved there in 2001. Oh, that's cool. When did you move there? I think 2004. Okay. Yeah. I'm not very good with like numbers and years and stuff. So I might be off by a lot, but you know, that's kind of what I say. No. So years later...

I was single and I met someone online who happened to live in New York. So I remember he asked... Were you actually single? I was single. Okay. I remember it was before Christmas that we started talking and he said, what are you doing for Christmas? And I said, well, nothing really. And he said, why don't you come to New York? So I did that. I came on Christmas day and spent 10 days...

And in those 10 days, I kind of – it's so different when you are in the city with someone who knows it. Oh, yeah. You have an entirely different experience. That was the whole thing. Yes. And the reason why I didn't like New York was that I didn't really see – Yeah, because you're just wandering around trying to figure out what to do. And then all of a sudden, it's like in Times Square and you're thinking, oh, my God, this is like hell.

It's like the worst place in the universe. But to just go and do the routine of the person you're visiting and just do whatever. Yeah, and finding cute little restaurants and bars and hanging out with people that actually live there. It's such a huge difference. Yes. So, story goes, I fell in love and I wanted to move to New York.

And luckily enough, I had a job that I could actually do that. Yeah. The first thing I had to do was, so back in Norway, we don't have agents. No one that works in the industry has agents. But in New York, you have to have an agent. Of course. You don't have to be, so you get work. In Norway, the editors just had your number? Yeah, they just call you. Yeah. Yeah.

Or you more or less have like standing. Or the photographer, you have a team and you're part of a team. What happened was that I was talking to a friend of my ex and she said, oh, I know a stylist agent. You should talk to her. I got her number. I called her and she said, oh yeah, come on down. So I went out of my book and I was showing her stuff and she was like, oh yeah, this is awesome. I'd be kind of like looking for someone like you.

So she signed me on the spot. Wow. A cute story about that is that I spoke English well, but I spoke more like, you know, I was kind of more into the whole like British. You know, I spent a lot of time in London and I didn't know like all the American like slang. Yeah, of course. So I was showing her my book and...

You know, she's commenting and looking. And then she comes to this picture of a chicken. And she says, oh, that's a little cheesy. And I look at her and I look at the picture. And I look at her again and I say, no, it's chicken. Oh, my God. That's amazing. Because I didn't know. And what did she say? Oh, she was laughing her head off. Oh, good. That's probably why she signed you. She was so funny. Yeah.

And, you know, I had that for a very long time, that there were certain things I just didn't like. Yeah, yeah. Like, why is this funny? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The first movie I watched coming to America was Napoleon Dynamite. Oh, which probably made no sense to you. Everyone in the movie theater was like dying of laughter. And I was sitting there thinking...

This is hell. Like, what's funny about this? Yeah. I didn't understand one thing. I love it. So how much time passed before you did your first job? So I moved full-time August 1st. That's following the Christmas. Mm-hmm. Okay. Did you visit in between that time? Yes, several times. Oh, okay, okay. I spent a lot of time in New York and...

I had like two months where I couldn't travel because I was waiting for my visa. And I was selling my apartment and all that stuff. Selling all the furniture and the knickknacks. Yeah. All that stuff. So, yes, I moved on Thursday and I started working on a Monday. No. So fabulous. My life's been a lot like that too. Like I moved to...

I mean, you and I have a very similar life where we've mostly worked for ourselves. Our whole life. And how opportunity sort of came up out of serendipitous situations. Absolutely. Like, I think both of us have never had a proper resume ever. What's a resume? I know, exactly. So, I had a similar thing too. I moved to New York in January of 2001.

I came with $1,700, spent it in one week, but I got a job in one week. Okay, okay. So I started working at Bumble and Bumble like a week in. Thank goodness because I had spent all my money going out and running around the streets. What did you do? Go to clubs and stuff like that? Oh, yeah. No. I was staying –

With my friend, Aaron Mendoza. We stayed with a friend of mine on Staten Island. This is in 2001. And we would take a bus to the ferry, to the red line, to walk or took the L over to go to the East Village to go out to like Phoenix or the Cock or something. And would like party hardy and then

take have to do all that all the way oh my god back to the ferry the last ferry i think or sometimes you probably take a cab to the ferry station that sounds exhausting yeah but not when you're 20s honey no that's true fomo you want to be out there on the streets absolutely like so crazy like the thought of that now is like gives me anxiety but you know what

If you're in New York City in your 20s, honey. Yes, I know, I know. Well, I wasn't in my 20s. Well, that's what I mean. I was in my 40s. Well, that's what I mean. Like the dirty, you know, underground aspect of New York didn't appeal to you where it appealed to me. Well, but the thing is that it wasn't really there anymore. Yeah, but there's still the Lower East Side and there was still dirt. It's a dirty fucking town. Yeah, it's a dirty city. But you don't notice it as much in your 20s. No.

Now I'm like, it's disgusting. I know. So, yeah. I mean, it's just, you know, your perception changes. No, totally. Totally. Yeah, I started working on a Monday. And in the beginning, it was, is he kicking Lestat out of his bed? Yeah, I think he doesn't want Lestat to be in the bed. Hugo, there's another one right there.

So if you have two little dog beds, they can stay in. But of course, they want to be in the same one. Yeah. But now I think Hugo wants to kick Lestat out. Oh, well, anyway. No, I got jobs right away. I should maybe have waited a little bit just to get into the terminology of things. Or just to like...

Or maybe not. I mean, you had some money, so it wasn't like it was urgent. No, no, no. But the thing is that I had...

Whenever I visited New York, I would bring my book and I would go to magazines and places and show. Oh, yeah. And I would tell them, I can't work yet, but this is what I can do. What were their responses? Were they like, keep us posted or this is great? Yeah, it was really good. And they were like, we're ready to book you. Just let me know when you're here. So in the beginning, I was like Googling everything. I was like...

chicken pot pie. I mean, what the hell is chicken pot pie? I had to Google everything because I had no idea what things were. Yeah. Mac and cheese. Yeah. Just everything is so... I remember the first job I did, and that was kind of crazy because that was on a Monday, and they put me on a bus to...

Not the Hamptons, but what's it called? North Shore? North Fork? North Fork, yes. And I went out there and did a shoot for a magazine called Quick and Simple, which isn't around anymore. And it was me, I did both the food and the props, and the photographer, which actually is Brian, that now lives here in Palm Springs. The guy that we meet once in a while.

Brian? We've met Brian? Yeah, his husband has a plant shop. Oh, you worked together back? Mm-hmm. Oh. And two art directors. And I remember the first picture we took was like a hamburger. And I was so nervous because, you know...

Hamburgers in Europe and hamburgers here are two different things. Yeah, exactly. If you've ever been to Europe and you order a burger, you're going to be very disappointed. It's like this thin little – you're going to be like, where's the meat? Where is the meat? Show me the meat. Yeah. And it's really only fast food there, burgers. Yeah.

Or maybe some little shack on the coast. You can get it places by the road. But there's nothing amazing about it whatsoever. It's not like an artisanal, grass-fed, organic burger with a special... No, you're going to be like, no thanks.

So here, you know, they're big and fluffy. And I was like so worried about, oh, my God. Am I really going to pull this off? Did you cook the food or you just styled it? No, I did. I cooked the food and I styled and I did everything. Oh, my gosh. And the first picture I took in America ended up on the cover. So amazing. The first frame? That burger ended up on the cover of that magazine. Amazing. Yeah, I remember I was like super proud.

Yeah, so, you know, I worked for... What is going... Hugo... Here, let me open the door for that. Just kidding. Sorry, we're having a cabin fever. Hugo, this is day eight. It's going to be like this for eight weeks. So the thing is that I worked for a lot of really amazing magazines.

I did a lot for Country Living. Yeah. I did Real Simple. I did a lot for... Did you do... I did Vogue. Yeah. One time I did Vogue, Cosmopolitan...

Was it always... Good housekeeping. I worked a lot for good housekeeping. Yeah. Was it always food-based or did you do like lifestyle and interiors? I did a little bit of interiors. I got mostly booked for either doing the food or the props or to do both. Yeah.

And also I got kind of known for like my crafty side. So they were using me for a lot of craft stuff. Yes. Especially country living. Yes. I did a lot of like stories. Like instructional, like do this, make this. Yeah, like do a whole, like a story about, you know. I remember the first time I went to country living, I said to my agent, I said, can you get me meeting with country living? Because I want to work for that.

And I had bought on eBay a box of old doilies. So I suggested to them that we do a story about using old doilies. And I made like 20 projects and yeah, it turned out really good. And they loved it? Yeah. Oh, I think our neighbors have a party. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, and living in New York, you know, the first thing that struck me when I came was all the people.

Yeah, because I come from a country where there's like 5 million people. Yeah. And 5 million, I felt was my name. And like 25% of them are probably abroad even. Yeah, and I felt like 5 million was in my neighborhood. For sure. Whenever I would walk outside, there was just so many people. Yeah. It was just crazy. Can we lock the door? It's a little distracting. Yeah, the people. I didn't like taking the subway. I never really liked that. Yeah.

All the people would freak me out. I don't know. I never felt like safe on the subway. Yeah, it's a bit much. Yeah, it's a bit much. And also I remember my mother was always like, don't take the subway. Oh my God. Yeah. It's like, there's crazy people on the subway because she had seen like, you know, movies from America. Okay. With, you know, crazy subway. Yeah.

But yes, so in the beginning, I thought everything was like really weird and really... It took me a while to get used to, you know, the language. Was there any disastrous shoots? Yeah, there were a couple that... I mean, not like... No, there was a couple that was like a total disaster. Is that because maybe the art directors were being fussy? Being fussy or just didn't have...

Their vision worked out? Their vision just wasn't... Very indecisive. Wasn't doable. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. You know, you're like, I'm a stylist. I'm not a magician. I can't, like... I'm sorry. I can't make this chocolate cake fly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Now, there were some, you know, crazy shoots. And what I realized very fast was that working in...

Europe and working in America is extremely different. Of course. As we talked about before, you know, in Europe, the teams are very small. It's very like personal. There's much more trust. Yeah. And people, and also what happened was that when I moved to America, like a year after something, the recession hit. A year or two after I moved.

Yeah, which was sort of 2008, so 2006. Because when I first moved here, I would travel a lot.

around the u.s to do shoots oh really and after the recession i think the furthest way i would go was like new jersey yeah where did you go travel to when you were the heyday i went to canada i went to florida i went to somewhere down south i can't remember yeah we'd go like different places but after the recession it was like nothing

Yeah, absolutely. It was the end of all that. Yeah. I had had so much freedom when I was working in Europe for, you know, all my shoots. And here I felt a little bit like, almost like a trained monkey. Yeah. Doing stuff that I, you know, didn't agree with and doing stuff that I...

This was just silly. Yeah, it wasn't that interesting. Yeah, and especially after the recession, no one really wanted to, like on shoots, no one wanted to say that, okay, this is good, let's move on.

There was always like we had to take like four or five variation of a picture. And then they would always send the pictures to the editors. And the editors might be in a meeting. So you would sit around for two hours doing nothing, just waiting. And the food was dying on set. And I was just like, this is not, why are we doing this? This is so weird. Yeah. Yeah. So just do the work and pick your favorite. Right.

Yeah, exactly. Just, you know, this is not brain surgery. It's incredibly inefficient. It was very inefficient. And it kind of got to me in a way. So years later, the last shoot I had, and I'll say it now because none of the people worked there. Well, I don't really give a damn anyway. But I was working for Country Living. We were doing a Halloween shoot and I was making a chocolate cake.

And I was making, you know, that the tombstone chocolate cake where you like crunch cookies for, yeah. Which has been done like a million times. Yeah. It looked really good. You know, took a picture. It looks really good. Send it to the editor in chief. And the comment back was, it looks like, it looks too expensive. There are too many cookie crumbles. And I was like, okay, that's it. Are you kidding me? That's it. I'm done.

And I said to the people that was there from Country Living, I said, this is insanity. Yeah. I am done. I cannot work like this. You guys are crazy. When that is the comment that comes back. It looks too expensive. Too many chocolate crumbs. I mean, it's like, come on. You know, then it's like, she just needed to say something.

Yeah, exactly. She just had to make her paycheck. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I remember I went home and I was like, okay, this is enough. Yeah. And that's when I decided to start my own magazine.

We will stop right there. Because that's... Well, I want to talk about one other thing, which anyone that has moved to America will understand. And that is you will gain weight. The overeating, the portions, the gluttony. Yes. That is America. Yeah, absolutely. The portions are, of course, the main thing. And everything is just so huge.

So you gained a lot of weight. I gained a lot of weight. And it was also like, you know, moving to another country. And then it was like, we're sitting home at night and, you know, he would talk about like different like food items. And I would be like, oh, what's a ding dong? Or what's a, you know, hostess cake? Or what's like, and he would be like, oh, you never had a ding dong? You never had hostess cake? And of course, we'd go out and buy that and we would like eat. Yeah.

And my favorite thing of all was, of course, I mean, I love ice cream. Yeah. I can eat ice cream for lunch, dinner, and breakfast. Yeah. And around the corner from us was Ben & Jerry's. Oh, an actual shop. An actual shop. My favorite thing was to go to Ben & Jerry's, you know, buy a pint of ice cream. Yeah. And then I discovered Magic Shell.

Which is, if you don't know, it's this chocolate sauce that hardens. It gets, yeah. Yeah, and it's all like fat and palm oil and it's the most disgusting thing. But it's, you know, it's delicious. Yeah, but I mean, I ate that for, you know, for like go-to-bed snacks for a year. Yeah. Yeah, I gained a lot of weight. Wow. I think when I moved, I was a size... I bought a pair of orange corduroy pants before I left Germany.

Norway. My ex said that that was like the most European thing he had ever seen. Yeah, orange Corvette. Yeah, orange Corvette. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And they were size 38. And I haven't seen 38 in a while. Okay. Yeah, so, yeah. It happens. Dear listener, if you're planning on moving to America, buy yourself a girdle. Okay. Because, you know, or a Spanx or whatever, it will... Yeah, there's too many...

Naughty, delicious things. Too many temptations. Yeah. Okay. A little break, and then we'll have some questions. Yes. ♪

And it's time for What's Up, Sweet Bowl? What's up? Okay, Erica from Oregon. Hey, Paul and James and the dogs. I'm really into different superstitions from different parts of the world. Paul, are there any typical Norwegian superstitions? Are you guys superstitious? That's a good question. That's a good question. And my grandmother was very superstitious. Really? Yes. The big things in our house was...

Don't open an umbrella inside. Yeah, that's a pretty common one. Don't put shoes on the table. That's a new one to me. He's said that to me several times before. No shoes on the table. No shoes on the table. She had a black cat. It was big. She didn't do the salt thing. Salt over the shoulder. Yeah, she didn't do that. I feel like that's an Italian thing. The biggest thing was...

Was shoes on the table. And if something happened, she would be like spit three times. Yeah, just pretend spit, like just make the noise. It wasn't like knock on wood, it was spit three times. What would happen if you put shoes on the table? This is bad luck. Oh, just bad luck. Yeah. Nothing like, you know. Yeah.

Seven years of bad sex or anything like that. Well, that's the thing about in Europe. When you do... When you cheers with cocktails, you have to look at everyone in the eyes. Yes. Or a seven years bad. You have to... So you raise a glass and then you sort of look...

At each person. And you kind of nod. Yeah. And then you go to the next one. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually very sweet. Yeah. Yeah. You should be. Very like personal. Yeah, of course. You know. Absolutely. Not that like clinking. Yeah. Well, you can still clink, but you have to look people in the eye. You have to look them in the eye. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Yeah.

So I guess, are you superstitious? No. No? Not at all. I mean, I do say knock on wood. I think I've perhaps maybe sabotaged myself by talking about something too early. Oh, you jinxed it? I jinxed. Yeah, I think jinxes are kind of maybe true.

That was one of the things I did not understand when I moved here. It was like people were like, don't jinx it. And I was like, what are you talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So other than that, no, I'm not really superstitious.

Yeah, me neither. Well, I mean, I still don't put... I don't open an umbrella inside. I don't put shoes on the table. And if I do actually spill salt, I will throw a little bit over my shoulder. Yeah, and I think, honestly, it's like a lot of that stuff, I think it's kind of good to be... to sort of like honor those kinds of superstitions because it's like... it's sort of intuitive maybe and also just...

Not being lazy about it. Anytime you're being intentional, I think that's a good thing. Do you know what I mean? I agree. And thoughtful and conscious. And it's also... Because like sticking to those superstitions is kind of being...

and conscious. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, and it's also a tradition. You're bringing a tradition on. You're taking it on. As long as you're not being hindered and crippled by those kinds of superstitions. But it could be just kind of a fun tradition that actually by doing it feels positive. Yeah, absolutely. No, I get that. Okay. So no shoes on the table. Yes.

Okay. Okay, Finn from Vermont. I'm dying to go to Norway. My great-grandfather...

from Mandel. Mandel. Mandel. I'm sure you know where that is, Paul. My question is, what's the best way to see Norway? Car, train, boat. I want to see Oslo, Bergen, the fjords, etc. And I'm really enjoying the podcast. It's like chatting with two friends. Thank you. Finn? Well, Finn is a very Norwegian name. Yeah. I love that name. What I would suggest is

is to fly to Oslo, take the train from Oslo to Bergen, make sure it's a train that goes during daytime so you can see, because it goes over the mountains and that's really beautiful. Then from Bergen, I would take, we have these cruise ships that will take you

from Bergen to up north and it will go into all the fjords. Yeah. So you can see that it's called Hurtigruta, which means the fast route. It's actually the old postal route.

that now has turned into like sort of like a little cruise. Oh. And apparently the boats are really nice and it's good food. I haven't been on any of them, but people who have done it that I know say it's an amazing experience. Yeah. Yeah.

You've said it before, but yeah, taking the train from Oslo to Bergen and back during the day. Stunning. Are the trains nice? Yeah, trains in Europe is really nice. So they have good food and great seats and it's really comfy. Yeah, and you can just relax and just see the beauty. Sit back and just watch the scenery. It's beautiful.

Yeah, you will go into tunnels for like 10 minutes and then you will come out and it's just these amazing mountain scenery. It's really, really stunning. Yeah, amazing. Okay, next, Louis Suu.

From Rochester, New York. Spring is here. And with that comes the merciless spring sunlight where you can see every piece of dirt and dust. Oh, my gosh. So I guess it's time for spring cleaning. Any suggestions on how to make spring cleaning less boring? I hate it.

That is so interesting because it's true. The harsh light. Oh, yeah. You'll see everything. Well, here's the thing. Where we are now, we have these light gray stone floors, which are actually very forgiving in the sunlight. But hardwood floors? Oh, yeah. You could see everything. Absolutely. But yes. And on glass, you can see everything perfectly.

Well, you can see walls, you can see the roof, you can see absolutely everything. How to make it more fun? Well... Put on some good music. Put on some good music. Pour yourself... A glass of wine. A cocktail, a glass of sherry, and just... I know it's kind of boring, but you just have to try to have fun with it. Totally. I mean, things are usually a little bit brighter after a cocktail. Yeah. Yeah.

So maybe like drunk clean or something. Yeah. Or you know what? One thing you could do is definitely purge your home a little bit. Like get rid of stuff you don't need. Throw out those taxes from 10 years ago. Get rid of stuff that you haven't worn in a year to six months. Sort of like do an inventory of all the crap in your house. And then hire a maid to clean. Oh my gosh.

Seriously. Seriously. Purge your house and then have some fabulous woman come and clean. Spend the 120 bucks. Yeah. There you go. I agree. So the answer is you either get drunk and put on some good music and you have to clean yourself or you purge your house and you...

Hire a cleaning lady. Yeah, while you have a martini out in the sun. While you lounge outside in your salon? Yeah, no. You hire a fabulous woman who will clean your house in three or four hours. You can go...

Take the dogs on a long walk. Go for a day trip. And then just treat yourself. But you have to do some of the work. And that means get purging crap. Yeah. Get rid of stuff. Get rid of stuff. Yeah. Donate. Sell. Purge. Yeah. Which we are really good at. Oh, I love it. I love throwing stuff away. You especially. Oh, I'm just like, oh, is it beautiful? No. Trash. Trash.

Like, where's that bowl? You're like, oh, I gave it to a charity shop. Yeah. No, I just don't. At this point in my life, I don't want to acquire anything unless it's beautiful and useful. Period. That's true. No, it's true. We're too old for too many knickknacks. Yeah, I don't have time for that nonsense. Who has time for that nonsense? Oh, my God. Huge.

Okay. That's it for today. That's it? Thanks, guys. Be well. Be safe. Stay home. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. I know it seems insane, but this is all preventative efforts to squash that virus. We will overcome this, and there will be brighter times. And this is a way to fix things. Yes. Quiet time. Reflection. Spend it with those you love.

evaluate your life, be grateful. And in a couple months,

We'll press on. And do something you've never done before. Start macrameing. Start embroidering. Yeah, all the things you've been neglecting. Painting. All those things that you never had time to do. Spray cleaning. You have two months, girl. Get it together. You have two months to clean your eyes. Yes, I think that's possible. Okay. If you do have any questions for us, and please send them because we love them, send them either to...

podcast at sweetpolemag.com or send us a message on instagram sweetpole magazine please rate us and leave comments and things like that tell your neighbors because people have to have something to do so they can listen to us absolutely you know other than that we love you all and stay safe and bye