Love In The Time Of Corona
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Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 24 of Chasing the Sweet Things in Life. That's the Sweet Paul podcast. Yes, it is. I can't say what this episode is called yet, because that will ruin the surprise for everyone. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. We'll talk about it after the break. So you have to stick around. But what are you going to call it? Are you going to give it away in the title? Yeah, that's why I'm not saying the title. Oh, but when it comes out, it's going to say the title. Yeah, of course. But, you know. Oh, well, whatever. Whatever.

People don't read titles. No one cares. No one cares about titles. We'll see. Yes. We'll just title it a special surprise. Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah, we can do that. Yes. Yes. Okay. Surprise. We are now on, I mean, I don't even know what day it is or, I mean, what's today?

It says Tuesday. Is it Tuesday? And it's week... I think this is week eight or seven. I think maybe seven. I'm honestly not sure. I can now totally relate to the Dowanger Countess when she said, what's the weekend?

Yeah. At Downton Abbey. I can totally, because like there's no difference anymore. Yeah. I still think though that there's still like a little bit of a difference in the weekend. Like you kind of like, well, you kind of want it to feel different. Yeah, but it's, it's. And you anticipate it feeling different, but it doesn't feel any different. Yeah.

The thing is, some of the friends we have here that we see the most do work during the week. They have proper day jobs working from home. So if we get to see them... It's on a weekend. It's on a weekend. That's true. That's true. And if we see them, it's just in their big backyard. We stay six feet apart. Yeah. We're just like...

In the swimming pool or... In the swimming pool, six feet apart. Or lounging, but we... Yeah, we keep our distance. Yeah. And we've only seen them like maybe two or three times in seven weeks. Yeah.

Yeah, I have to admit, I'm kind of longing for human interaction. Yes. I really do. Because even when I... The few times we've gone to Trader Joe's to shop, I'm dying to talk to people in line. I'm just like... Yeah, it's weird because... I don't know. Let's have a conversation. We're not super social people. And we love being at home. And we're at home a lot. So it'll be interesting to see what changes once...

Things are back to normal. The thing is, for us, it's not going to be that much change because, as you said, we're not running around the streets. Yeah, and I also hate saying back to normal because I don't want things to go back to normal. I think normal is problematic. So hopefully the new normal will be more thoughtful and...

more prioritized for everyone. But yeah, it'll be interesting. I mean, I definitely miss going out to dinner. I'm excited to go to dinner, excited to just sort of poke around and browse shops and go to the secondhand stores and the consignment shops and things like that. I don't know, the movies. Yeah, I miss going to the movies. I miss movie popcorn. I thought about people that are really, really, really social.

how terrible this must be for them. And as you said, we don't really run the streets and, you know, go to bars and shit. So it's not really... It's not really... Especially people who are super social, who live alone. Yes. Yeah, that must be really tough. Really tough. Oh, well. Hugo's drinking water in the background. Nothing's changed. Do you think the dogs noticed that there is something going on? No. No.

I mean, we're normally home a lot. Like, that's the whole point. So, I mean, I don't think our lives will change that much once we're allowed to go out into the world again. For me, obviously, like, since I do live events for a living, we're just trying to figure out where we fit into the timeline because I think we're going to be the last of the sort of businesses that can...

Operate. Public events. But they say this Friday, California is taking the first step to reopening. So here they're opening shops, but only for curbside pickup? Yeah, which is, I mean, I don't know what that all means, but you roll up to Hallmark to get a card and they're going to bring it out. I mean, it's just like, what does that mean? Yeah, I know. It's really weird.

malls aren't opening though but so california has like a four stage reopening and the first stage was obviously stay at home only essential businesses yeah two is still stay at home but certain things can open and then three is when a lot can open but no large events like no sports with live audiences no concerts yeah so yeah

And then four is when it's like, so I think we're the last phase. So we'll see how long that takes. Yeah, it could be. But in that list, it's strange. It doesn't say, it doesn't specifically name hospitality. Where in that process can hotels open? Yeah, because if restaurants can open and if you can go into shops, then hotels should be able to open. Yeah, because I mean, just specifically for Palm Springs, it'll be interesting to see how the tourism process

when that reopens well one thing is for certain americans are not gonna like flock to go abroad so they will travel in their own country so i think palm springs will maybe come out yeah for sure good it'll be one of the hot destinations once people can travel yes we are in palm springs today is going to be 105 the rest of the week is going to be 107 107

It hasn't been so bad. I mean, we're lucky enough to have a pool, so that helps. We have the air conditioning on, but not too cold. It's because we don't want to waste all this energy because it can get very expensive. But it hasn't been so bad. No, the pool really helps.

Actually, just before we started recording this podcast, James was like, okay, give me five minutes. I need to cool off in the pool. Yeah. Well, because I went on my morning walk, so I was kind of overheated. So I dipped in the pool and then sat down here to do this podcast. She dipped her toes in the pool and now she's here. Okay. So let's say they say tomorrow everything's open. What's the first thing you would do? Probably go to the thrift stores and then go to dinner.

That's literally it. I don't really care about anything else. So if you've never been to Palm Springs, the thrift stores and the consignment stores here are of epic proportions. Yeah, really good. There is a lot of rich people that has houses in Palm Springs. And I have a feeling they redecorate every year because the consignment stores here are fantastic.

to the rim with the most amazing stuff. Well, yeah. Plus people have lived here and vacationed here for decades and decades. So there is a lot of older people here and, you know, some pass away and yeah, the stuff that ends up in these stores are amazing. Yeah. There's a range too. I mean, I love going to the little like angel view, which is a little like charity thrift stores that are very inexpensive and

Because you can find some treasures there all the way up to the very high-end consignment stores, which are really great and still reasonable. It's not like thrifting. Yeah, we have honestly decorated our entire home with stuff from the consignment and thrift stores. The only thing new we have is the bed and the mattress.

Yeah. Everything else is from the consignment stores. Hugo is chewing his bone and he's like chewing it against the glass coffee table. So it's like banging. Oh my gosh. It's like he does it on purpose to make me crazy. Well, I feel like they, if we don't pay them attention at,

Well, he does it on purpose. Anytime they will find something for us so that we don't need. Yeah. He lives on the edge. Like if he gets a ball, he'll play with it right next to somewhere. It will go under and he can't get it. Exactly. Because then he'll cry for us to get it. And he's kind of a wimp because.

Because the ball can even be next to like a table leg and he won't get it. Yeah, because he acts like, oh, I can't get it. I can't reach it. It's right there. He can just reach it with his mouth. But he's just like, yeah, he's going to whip it. Okay.

Okay, anything else you want to say about the lockdown before we take a break? Hopefully we're starting to see a pin of light at the end of this long tunnel. And I hope we can do it in a way where we don't relapse into a full moon. Yes. You know, I mean, because there's...

cuckoo birds trying to I know I know it's crazy it's just like crazy you're not oppressed calm down yes staying at home is not that oppressive so it's it's fine no it's it's it's called being thoughtful yeah and you don't need a haircut that bad no no just put it up in a bun that's what we do and don't call yourself pro-life no okay we're gonna take a break and then we'll come back and you have to pay attention to this okay

Okay, we are back. What did we do last week? We did something rather special. We did. Do you want to tell? We got married! Yes, we did! We got married! Love in the time of Corona. And it was a rather peculiar wedding. Yes, I loved it. Yeah, that's not anything we're ever going to forget. Yeah.

Okay, first of all, we've been engaged for a couple of years. Yes, we got engaged at... Disney World. No, Epcot Center. Epcot in Florida. And so we've been talking about going to City Hall and getting married. Yes.

Well, there's been lots of... Like we talked about having a big party and doing all these things. Yeah, which we're still going to do. So what I did is I just went online to fill out the marriage license application just to do it and sort of get it out of the way. But the thing is, all the city halls are closed. So they ended up calling me and saying, so...

We're going to start performing ceremonies in the box office of the Regal Theater in Rancho Mirage. You heard this right. We in.

a movie theater. Out front of the box office. Where you buy your tickets. Where you buy your tickets. The amazing thing is we love going to the movies. We go to the movies all the time. And, you know, we've always gone to Regal theaters because Regal has always been sort of around where we live, whether it was Brooklyn or Kingston or here. So I was like, can I call you back? And then I talked to Paul. I was like, they're going to be doing ceremonies here.

And they're like, you don't need to bring a witness because someone will be there and you can apply for your license and do the ceremony all in one. So I was like, oh my God, should we just do it?

So we decided to do it. And it was so cute because we literally have bandanas covering our faces, right? As face masks. It honestly looks like we are robbing the Regal movie theater. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We went there and filled out all the stuff, took our little oaths.

She performed the ceremony, the clerk or whoever she is from the county of Riverside. We exchanged rings that we've had. It was so sweet. And our friend John was there and thankfully took some pictures, which are really good.

We'll post it on Sweet Paul. We'll post it. So I guess because we're recording this and telling you, we have to announce to the world that we are now married. Yeah, it was really, I don't know. I get very giggly when I get a little nervous. I was kind of giggling through the whole thing. Also, it's just so surreal because we're standing there and we are actually wearing bandanas.

And looking like we are robbing the box office. Yeah. There was even someone there from Regal, from the movie theater. Yeah, the owner of that theater. Yeah. So I said to him, like, jokingly, well, it wasn't really a joke. It was more like, I said, free tickets for life. Yeah. I don't think that's going to happen. Yeah, I think he may have posted a picture on their Instagram, but we haven't really looked for it. So, yeah, it was really sweet. Not really what we...

No, it's funner than just... It's actually funner and more interesting than just going to the city hall. No, totally. So I'm now a married woman and very excited to be married to Paul. And we had an amazing wedding lunch. Oh, yeah. Our reception dinner was Mickey D's. Epic.

We got a bunch of Mickey D's and came home and ate it. It was delicious. And then Paul baked a delicious cake. Yeah, I was like, we have to have something. Just like blueberry whipped cream cake. I made like a Norwegian, as we call it, blødkake, which translated to soft cake, which is just a sponge cake with...

With whipped cream. And I made homemade blueberry jam and fresh blueberries. And it was actually very delicious. Yeah. If you hear something in the background, it's the dogs now. The dogs are playing. Are playing with each other. They haven't done that all day. But of course, now we are not paying them attention. So they're trying to like, look at us. Look at us.

Look what we can do. Yeah, we literally stopped this podcast five times trying, like, getting them to stop. So our wedding reception, I remember when we lived in Brooklyn, we were like, oh, we should maybe do it in the restaurant at Bergdorf Goodman. And we had all these plans. Yeah, all these fabulous plans. So it went from, like, a wedding lunch at Bergdorf Goodman to McDonald's.

After the Regal Theater. Yes. But I love it. It's so cool. Yeah, I will sweat. So maybe we'll have a reception in the fall. We're trying to think of maybe an October date just to have a little party. But until then, we're just nesting. Newlyweds. I mean, there's nothing else we can do. Okay. Shotgun wedding. Isn't that what they call it? It is.

Do they call it shotgun wedding because she's pregnant and the dad has the shotgun? Okay. I love it. I'm into it. So, yeah, we're married. Yeah, so you can send gifts to... No, just kidding.

Yeah, we haven't decided. We're probably just going to try to do like a honeymoon fund or something. Yeah, we should do that. Online registries are kind of a little bit uninspired. Yeah, it's also... I mean, if anyone has any tips on what we should do, please send it to us. It's also we kind of want to pick the stuff ourselves. It's just a lot of work. Yeah, and we are so busy these days, so we can't really... Yeah, but... We'll see. We'll keep everyone informed on where to send the gifts. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Okay, so that was our big... I mean, that's kind of big news. Yeah, it is. Probably anticlimactic for everyone, but... Maybe we should call the episode Corona Wedding. Married to Corona. Love in the time of Corona. Oh, that's cute. Yeah, we can call it that. That's actually very cute. I like that. We are going to take a break, and then we're going to come back with some questions.

Okay, we are back with a section of the podcast called What's Up, Sweet Paul? What's up, Sweet Paul? And also just reminding me today is Cinco de Mayo. Oh, happy Cinco de Mayo. Happy Cinco de Mayo. This should have been the Cinco de Mayo episode.

Well, I'm sorry. Do you know what Cinco de Mayo celebrates? Most people think it's the Mexican independence, but it's not actually. It's just a celebration of their victory over the French at one point in a battle with the French. Like all odds were against. The Mexicans. Yeah, but they overcame. They kicked that French ass. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, that's cool. So, happy Cinco de Mayo. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Well, I have tons of Carlos. Yeah, we'll try to do some sort of Mexican. So, we'll have some... Do we have carnitas? No. Oh. Oh, well. Oh, well. Okay. First question. Yes. Kate from Brooklyn. Hi, guys. Still listening to the podcast and really enjoying it. Thanks.

I have a question. I feel like I sort of romanticized Brooklyn. You spoke of how you were happy to move out of New York City, but did you enjoy living in Brooklyn at all? And if so, what were your favorite things about it? Also, I stumbled on a website from a store called Moth in Chicago. I am really enjoying perusing its offerings online.

on what it says is a Japanese Scandinavian aesthetic. And it made me think of you and I wondered if you knew of it. I do see how there seems to be similar aesthetic. I think of it as functional yet naturally beautiful, sort of close to raw, sort of in a close to raw way. My favorite approach to art and craft

Do you think that is accurate for your experience of growing up in Norway, Paul? If so, I'd find it interesting that the two cultures have that overlap. Isn't Scandinavian culture actually heavily influenced by Japanese? Yes. Like that's actually a real how they're...

A Scandinavian aesthetic was informed, right? Was Japanese? No. I mean, from the turn of the century, it was definitely an influence. And it was an influence all over Europe. Japanese. Japanese aesthetic. The Scandinavian aesthetic from way back has always been very minimal. It's all about...

the material and it's all about form for function there's no really extra like thrills and whistles it's all about like beautiful and purposeful yeah it's a little bit like you know shaker furniture yeah that you know it's beautiful but it's very you know it's

It's meant to be used, and it's meant to be used in a very simple way. Every interior in Scandinavia is white. Do you think that's because of the dark? Oh, definitely. The dark winters? Definitely, yes. Yeah, if you ever go to Scandinavia, you will be surprised over how white everyone's home is. Yeah, the interiors. Yeah, the interiors. It's very like, yeah, it's white walls, artwork, and light wood. Yeah.

Everything's off the floor. Like there's no clunky anything. Everything's on legs. It's very simple. And yes, there is a definite influence by Japanese aesthetic. I have not heard of this store, Moth, in Chicago. I'm totally going to look it up after this. I hadn't either. And I looked it up when I saw this question coming in. And it's a beautiful store. And it definitely has that.

It's more Japanese than Scandinavian. Yeah. But, you know, it's all the ceramics that the Japanese and the Scandinavians make are very similar. Yeah. A lot of the textiles. All the natural materials like wood and ceramic. Wood, wool, leather. Leather. Yes. It's very, very much connected. Like teak.

Yeah, but it was a whole thing. It started in, I guess, the 20s. It was called, like, Japonais in French. And it just, like, influenced furniture, fashion, clean lines. Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, there's a big... Yes, it's connected. The question about Brooklyn, yes. I mean, I moved to Brooklyn in...

to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2001. And this is when, you know, I had known about what was happening in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but I moved there in 2001 when there, where there was like one cafe, one little vintage store called ugly luggage. There was the Al cafe and,

There was only maybe like five new businesses there. And it was very early. And it was such an amazing time. Because for a long time, it was the highest concentration of people under 25 in the world. Yeah. So cool. Ran the streets. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

acting up, acting a fool in my 20s. And it's almost unrecognizable today. I mean, it's all high-rise buildings. And so many cool things have come out of Brooklyn for decades and decades and decades. And it just, you know, as far as it's definitely the coolest of all the boroughs has always been.

It is fabulous to live in Manhattan. It really is just because it's like you could literally walk anywhere, which is great. You don't have to get on the subway. No, I loved Brooklyn for a long time. Yeah. And it's fabulous until it isn't. Yeah, I loved living there for a long time too. What really got me was all the constructions.

Yeah. Once they started putting up, literally there was like a high rise going up, like five of them simultaneously in like a five block radius. Yeah, it was insane. We woke up every morning at like seven o'clock from Jackhammer's.

And it was all day. And even they got permission so they could do it on Saturdays and Sundays. It was insane. You know, it created so much noise and dust and traffic. And it became kind of like unbearable to live there. I got over it very fast. And I was super happy that we moved out.

But yeah, I mean, if we had come after all this was done, maybe it would have been different. But I just couldn't deal with all the noise and all the construction and all the traffic. Brooklyn's dirty. And it's really expensive. It's so expensive and it's really dirty. And Williamsburg doesn't even have trash cans. Yeah, it's... If you go on the street and you have like, let's say you've been walking around and you've been eating a sandwich.

There's nowhere to... To throw anything away. There are only trash cans. Yeah. But they have like $10 million apartments, but there's no trash cans on the streets. Yeah. So you just walk down from the apartment you're paying $4,000 or $5,000 a month for and there's garbage everywhere. It's...

So we realized that we could, you know, we moved to Kingston and then eventually moved to Palm Springs and could have something so beautiful and luxurious. And for half the price. For half the price. Plus the peace and quiet. Yeah. And I also will say that New York and Brooklyn is not exactly the center of the universe.

There is a lot of amazing stuff. Yeah, it's not the center of the universe. There's so much cool stuff going on all over. And the thing is, even coming to California, the thing that's so ironic is I always said, oh, I could never live in L.A. And of course, I don't want to live in L.A.,

But living in California in Palm Springs, I've realized that, you know, New York was always like, oh, it's fashion. It's fabulous. Right. But you know what? California is so much more conscious of...

Oh, yeah. It's much more hippy-dippy, so the healthcare is better. The corona relief is better. Because in a lot of ways, it's just a much more – it's a much softer and more empathetic state than New York. New York is very like – New York is tough. Kind of like –

New York is very kind of like gangster, you know, mafioso kind of vibe to New York. It's just like suck it up. Whereas California is much more hippy dippy. Yeah.

California is more like, tell me about your feelings. Yeah, California is much more humanist than New York is. So there's just, I think, a better quality of life overall in the state. And so I'm glad that I ended up here to be able to experience that right now. Next question. Lisa from Santa Monica says, we are now in the seventh week of our lockdown. Okay, so did you just get, so that came this week? Yeah, it came two days ago. Okay, so we are in our seventh week. Okay.

Once this is all over. So Santa Monica is in, oh, that's California? I don't know. Yeah, Lisa from Santa Monica. That's in California. Okay. Yeah.

I don't know. We are now in the seventh week of our lockdown. Once this is over and you guys can do whatever you want, what is the first thing you will do? I'm dire need of a haircut, so that's on top of my list. We talked about it a little bit, what we would do, but I'm sort of excited to go back to the groomer that Paul and I get some waxing done. You know, men in a certain age...

Get a lot of hair places. You don't want hair. And we get a lot in our noses. And our ears. So we go once a month. And we get our nose hairs. Janked out of our cranium. Yes. And I love it. It sounds really painful and terrible. But it's actually not. No. Getting your nose hairs waxed. Which now with Corona. I don't know if that's a good idea to do.

But you think it would be... Like, I expected it to hurt so badly. And when I'm... It doesn't. It doesn't. And I get actually very sleepy. When he's just, like, fiddling and putting wax on me and stuff, I'm like, I love it. I almost fall asleep. Yeah, because, you know, the wax is warm. It's very, like, comforting. And even when, you know, he shoves it up my nose. Yeah. Yeah, I don't mind. It just feels like being pampered. Getting groomed. So, grooming for sure. I have had my back waxed once. Yeah.

And that was painful. That was painful. I wonder why it's... That was really painful. Maybe because it's more of a surface. Yeah. The thing about getting your nose waxed is that I think because it's in a concentrated area and it happens all at once...

It happens before your mind can process that it's just been freaking traumatized. Whereas waxing a large area, your mind catches. It's just like, hello, hello, red alert, red alert. Because it's an ongoing thing. But all I can say is it was painful.

The first thing I want to do, what's on top of my list, is a pedicure. Yeah. I need to get these feet fixed. Back in order. Pedicure, haircut, dying to go and see a movie. I want to sit in a movie theater. I want to have a

Big Diet Coke, and I'm going to have the biggest thing they have of popcorn. I'm just going to bring a garbage bag and have them fill it up. Yeah. I want to do that. I want to go to the consignment shops. I'm dying to go to a restaurant and sit down. I want to go to Drag Queen Bingo. Yeah. Just the stuff we used to like to do. Yeah, yeah. You know, just like normal stuff. Nothing crazy. And I certainly want to get back to putting on...

our makers markets and curating. Yes. That's very important. Those people again, because I miss them and people need to get back to work. Thanks, Lisa. Mari, Mari, M-A-R-I, Mari from Boston says, Hey guys, love the podcast. Paul and I,

Paul, I have a question for you. When I was a little girl, my grandparents took me to Norway on vacation. Oh my gosh, so cool. Lucky girl. We had the most wonderful time in this beautiful country. I really want to go back soon. We had a dessert that was made of apples, whipped cream, and some crumbled cookies. What was that, and do you have a recipe? So what I think that was is something we call Tillslötebunnenpiker, and translated, it's peasant girls dressed in veils.

What? Yeah, I know. It's the weirdest thing ever. It's a layered dessert like a trifle. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. You make like an apple compote. So it's layers of that. It's layers of sweetened whipped cream.

And then it's actually not crumble cookies. It's breadcrumbs that you toast in a pan with sugar and cinnamon. Oh, interesting. And you layer that, and it is delicious. It's really, really, really good. That's really interesting. I've never heard of doing a sweet breadcrumb. Makes perfect sense. Yeah, you can totally do that. And again, why it was, you know, Norway used to be a very poor country.

I think that was a way to use up old bread. Of course. Because that's what it is. Instead of just a crouton for a salad, you did a dessert. Yeah, we didn't have croutons back then in Norway. There was no croutons. Well, no, but you used stale bread. Yeah, they used stale bread. Oh, did you not put croutons on a salad? Not in the 1800s, I think. Oh. This is a very old dessert. And we have the recipe on our website. Oh.

Just search for dessert plus apple and you will find it. Oh, cool. Yeah. It's actually super delicious. It's kind of like a fall-ish dessert. You should do a stale bread story. Oh.

Because I'm sure that every culture has a day-old bread, whether it is a crouton or... Yeah, they totally do. Like a spatula needs stale bread. Yes. There's pastas that need stale bread. Yes. There's actually that panzanella salad. Yeah. A tomato salad that has stale bread. Well, especially now because everyone's learning how to bake bread. I know. What are they going to do with all this bread? Okay. Yeah.

Siri, day old bread or stale bread story? Absolutely. Yay. Old bread. Okay. Is that it for now? That's it. Yeah, so that was our wedding episode. Okay. I don't know. We got married last week. I don't know what we're going to get into this week.

We keep talking about getting another dog. Please, we cannot adopt another dog. So, oh my God. So last week we had, first one day, we had a couple of friends coming over here and they brought a puppy, which was a mix of like a terrier and a chihuahua and something else. Yeah, a tiny little whip of a dog. But it was sweet. I never experienced a sweeter dog ever. She was very sweet. And then a couple of days later, we went to our French house and they had...

had a tiny little pug puppy. Yeah. So we're kind of like... Shoes. Ugh. So we have, yeah, it's like my biological clock is ticking. Yes, absolutely. We're getting puppy stir-crazy. We're getting puppy fever. Yeah. And when we do socialize with people, it's only in the backyard and we stay six feet away. So don't judge us. We're being very careful. Yeah, but the dogs are not six feet away. No, we cuddle with the dogs. Yes. Yeah.

Okay, well, if you like this podcast, please rate us and maybe give us a review. We really appreciate that. If you have any questions for us or comments or, you know, just want to say hi, you can send us a direct message on Instagram, on SweetPol Magazine, or send an email to podcast at sweetpolmag.com. Okay, until next time. Bye. Bye. Bye.