Valentine's Day might be wrapped in reds and pinks, but the true colors of love are as diverse as the stories we share. Join Jenn and Mel as they unwrap the complexities of the heart with tales from high school crushes to the profound connections of adulthood. They navigate the cherished journey through Valentine's past and present, comparing the innocence of first loves to the deep bonds rediscovered post-divorce. With a special gift for our listeners – the Dating Empowerment Workbook – this episode is a heartfelt guide through setting intentions, establishing values, and honoring personal boundaries in the quest for love.
Dating Empowerment workbook
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kt0OM35atsREnCB5K488czs3wrZuj4w8/view?usp=sharing
Social Media: LPoP
https://www.instagram.com/lastpieceofpiepodcast/
https://www.threads.net/@lastpieceofpiepodcast
https://www.tiktok.com/@last.piece.of.pie?_t=8j0uDxkYoVm&_r=1
Send us your comments or questions and we will answer them on the show!
email - lastpieceofpiepodcast@gmail.com
Valentine's Day might be wrapped in reds and pinks, but the true colors of love are as diverse as the stories we share. Join Jenn and Mel as they unwrap the complexities of the heart with tales from high school crushes to the profound connections of adulthood. They navigate the cherished journey through Valentine's past and present, comparing the innocence of first loves to the deep bonds rediscovered post-divorce. With a special gift for our listeners – the Dating Empowerment Workbook – this episode is a heartfelt guide through setting intentions, establishing values, and honoring personal boundaries in the quest for love.
Dating Empowerment workbook
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kt0OM35atsREnCB5K488czs3wrZuj4w8/view?usp=sharing
Social Media: LPoP
https://www.instagram.com/lastpieceofpiepodcast/
https://www.threads.net/@lastpieceofpiepodcast
https://www.tiktok.com/@last.piece.of.pie?_t=8j0uDxkYoVm&_r=1
Send us your comments or questions and we will answer them on the show!
email - lastpieceofpiepodcast@gmail.com
I want somebody to come by and give me a treat. He's called Macho man. How do you give me treats later tonight? Oh my god, I'm going to throw a throwing up. I'm throwing up now. Thank you, maggie, for the distraction. I appreciate that. Welcome. This is last piece of pie. I'm Jen, I'm Mel.
Speaker 1:Happy Valentine's Day everybody. Happy Valentine's Day. I hope everybody has plans one way or the other. Right, even if it's with your girlfriends, even if it's with your girlfriends, correct For your mom, for your daughters, or your man, yes, or your grandma. Go love somebody. Just give some love today, no matter what. I think it's a good reminder.
Speaker 1:Go watch Love on the Spectrum on Netflix. Oh my gosh, girl, that show. It gives you hope, doesn't it? Oh yeah, talk about love and positivity and hope and wanting somebody to like you for you and be kind and respectful, and that's all I want. That's all I want.
Speaker 1:I love how excited that guy gets. Do you remember his name? No, I don't. He's so cute in the interview and he's like I wonder if she wants to be my boyfriend or girlfriend. Oh, yes, that's so cute. Oh my god, it just gives you like. It's just so uplifting. I just want to be like can I be your friend? Let me help you get ready for a date. Okay, right, and I would like to tell them you're completely normal, because we're all feeling these feelings. Yes, we all want love and we all want to know if we're going to have titles and when and where. And yeah, it's totally normal. Nobody wants to be alone. We want human connection. They deserve love. We all do. We should create a love app. You know, like our old folks own app. We need like a Down syndrome love app too. Oh, I know, like a Down Spectrum autism dating app. I don't think they already have those. The one episode I think they did a speed dating for. How cute, how cute. Yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 1:Speaking of dating, I'll tell them what we created for our L-poppers. Oh, guys, we have a great Valentine's Day gift for you. It is called the dating empowerment workbook. Oh, yeah, mel and I were thinking and talking and sorry, l-poppers, we're at my house in Maggie's Maybe vocal. I know, it's okay, we love you too.
Speaker 1:Mags, don't talk to her, she's going to come over here. But yeah, l-poppers, no, hold on L-poppers, no, let's just listen. Can you hear the? The wash machine going at Jens the dog whining. This is why we're always at my house, but we have no time this week and I'm literally on my way to a date and I'm like I'll be there in 30 minutes, let's record, and I have to leave in 30 minutes. Yes, here she comes. Yeah, come on, mags. Come on, show her why we don't record here. You want to say hi, uh huh. No, leave it. That's Jens, baby, go outside.
Speaker 1:All right, l-poppers, we have an amazing Valentine's gift for you all, jens, tell them about what we made. We made a dating workbook for you guys All of our lessons from last year and what we learned, and just creating values and boundaries and put it in a little workbook to set your intentions for dating this year, which is really important. I feel like we wrote this based on things that we should have done last year and we didn't, things that we've learned and things that we're going to do this year. So, l-poppers, as you do this workbook, we're going to be right alongside you, doing it with you and reflecting on our dates and how we feel after also. Yeah, it's just a quick little. Let's write out our values, let's change our mind, put some positive affirmations and mindset out there and then reflect after each date and learn and grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's going to be downloadable. It'll be in our show notes. That was hard for you. It was downloadable. I know that's a lot of vows for you, indiana girl. I was trying to say it fast, no-transcript. Thank you, I was already thinking ahead. So it's downloadable. Yes, there'll be a link in our show notes, which y'all if show notes, if you don't know what that means, that means where you click the podcast to listen to. If you scroll down, there's links, there's like our social media links, and then there'll be the show notes and then there'll be a link now for the free download. Yep, it'll be under the description of the episode, and then you can always DM and email us and we will send you the workbook.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's work together. Let's make this an amazing, amazing dating year. Like. This is my line Date smart, date smart. I like it. Yeah, we have to. It's time we need to all grow up. Stop the game, stop the ghosting, stop the. You know she didn't text back after wait three hours in between all the nonsense. Like I'm done with that. Like let's just stop and be normal and go back to like 1960, please Give me a man and a set of pearls. Is that what you're going to manifest for Valentine's Day gift? A man, a man and a set of pearls, of course. Of course, you know it. So, yeah, I'm excited. Thank you, jen, for working very hard on this. Yeah, we did it. It was a team effort. It was a beautiful team effort.
Speaker 1:I think it will help a lot of people, and including myself, me too. I'm going to use it, just so I have you know, as a reminder. Even with Batchelman, like, hey, these are my goals and these are my values, and he still lines up and makes me feel good every day. Right, because, remember how we talked about the half time. Oh, yeah, it's important to pause and reflect.
Speaker 1:You got to have a game plan for your life. Have a six month goal, have a two year goal, have a five year goal for relationships, personal career, whatever. Play out your six month goal. Like, hey, I'm going to go on dates for six months, I'm going to have a positive experience and positive people. And it's like I did last year. Remember, I wrote one of your dates. So I was like, fuck it, yeah, and so I dated for the year and I did it really good, and then I was like I'm done, y'all win, I did it. No one could ever say she never dated because I did. It's over Right, going back in my cocoon. Nice, I know, I'm excited, me too.
Speaker 1:I'm excited also to watch some rom-coms this week for Valentine's Day week. I haven't watched those in a long time. Oh, my goodness, isn't Titanic your favorite? No, are you sure? Regular opinion people. I hate that movie. Can you believe it? El Papers, who hates the Titanic? When I say you have a black heart? This is proof right here. I saw it one time and I was like, yeah, don't you ever see this movie again.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh, I can't think of her name. What's her name? Rose, rose, well, that's yeah, it's her character name, rose. Well, yeah, we don't care about her professional name. It's Rose on the Titanic, who's like drowning in the ocean. Oh God, everybody drowned in the ocean on the Titanic. Oh gosh, so good, I'll give you the notebook.
Speaker 1:Or you know, city of Angels, I'm throwing back a big Ryan Romcom or Nicholas Cage. Uh, sleekless in Seattle. Oh, that's a good one, such a good one. And, of course, my all time favorite, bed of Roses, christian Slater. Oh, delivering Roses, the 80s heartthrob. Oh, it's such a great movie I am, I'm going to buy the DVD.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did some research and it is on Amazon. Hey, let's go. But just in case I couldn't find the DVD, I still have a VHS at home. Oh my, where are we going to find a VHS player? I have the player you do? Hell, yeah, I do, oh, okay, yeah, we'll poppers. We might have to do a live stream of watching Bed of Roses and do an VHS. We've talked about it so many times. Seriously, we'll bring our Walkman headphones. Oh yeah, plug into the TV. I'll put my Grant Hill posters up on my wall. Oh my, I have great posters. No way, I can't marry that man. Sweetie, don't laugh. Window magic.
Speaker 1:Grand Hill, north Carolina. Oh yeah, my mom and I were fans of Grand Hill back in the day. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. See, we are meant to be best friends, so of course, I was a cheerleader. Well, one time we were doing a routine at Detroit Pistons, one of their games, and I stayed back to me Grand Hill and like I got to high five him and I wouldn't let go. My dad was like let go, let go. And I literally was like almost, that girl like that went over the balcony because she would let go Nice. And my dad's like you're psycho. And I'm like dad, it's Grand Hill, right, he was so cute, he is still so cute. God, what are other 80s heartthrobs? Let's see. Oh man, andre Agassi the tennis player. I had a crush on him too. Oh my gosh, we're so old now.
Speaker 1:Abby's gonna listen to this episode and be like who the hell you all talking about? God? Do you remember? Oh man you may not remember this because you're younger than me where they have like Teen Beak magazine? Oh, yeah, bo, teen Bo, right? No, I think then it was called Teen Beak, oh, but I had like cut out all the magazine pictures and like what are mother falls, tiffany, tlc? Yes, george Michael, do kids put posters on their walls?
Speaker 1:Still, no One of my houses. There is a picture of Harry Styles. Okay, he's like the heartthrob. He's like naked too, which is so funny because none of my girls that work for me know about the poster, and so when we're in that room getting ready to exit, I close the door real quick because the poster's on the back, oh, okay, and I'm like hey, have you seen Harry? The girls were like oh, my god, so like skinny white dude is a heartthrob now I guess he's all tatted up and long black hair. I'm like, okay, well, whatever, all right, vanilla boy, I know, so, yeah, um, oh my gosh, I you know, I was watching Tic Tac for the day and I was kind of sad.
Speaker 1:Like our, our kids, have great lives, but like they're, they didn't have our lives. Like we had great lives. Yeah, I feel like my 80s and 90s was amazing. To be a kid, teenager, young adult oh my gosh. I mean Teen Spirit. I mean we all know that it's now like little kissing coolers. Do you remember that? Chapstick kissing coolers? No, oh my gosh. Maybe I can find that online too.
Speaker 1:Shoot, like all the stuff from the 90s is coming back. Like half the stuff that, like, my niece likes that's 15 like. I'm like, uh, we had that. What is cool that they like? Like even some of the songs they're listening to. I'm like, how do you know that song? I'm like that's on the 90s Best rap error ever. Right, give me some two-part all day long. Notorious BIG they call me Big Paul, but put your hands in the air because you're such a true player, warg, I mean I still can do it. Nate Dogg oh my gosh, so fun. That's so funny.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of love in the 90s, did you have like a heartthrob in high school, like a real life heartthrob? Um, I did not really date in high school. I wasn't really allowed to date until I was like 16. Oh, that's awesome. You're pretty strict. First, like crush I kind of had. He was he.
Speaker 1:There was a guy at my school. I don't like a lot of the guys that in my high school, like I wasn't a fan, they were mostly arrogant a-holes. But there was one guy. His name was Jeremy. I don't even remember his last name now, but I had a crush on him for a while. And then I met this older guy. He was 20 and I was like 17. Oh, sweet Jesus, that's jail time. I think my parents were very fond of that. That girl was stupid Lore. Oh, yeah, that that was only a couple months because I wouldn't sleep with him of course. Good girl, don't do me Proud of you. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Then I met a guy my senior year who was from a different high school and that was like my first, like real. That's my virginity to him. Oh my lord Jesus, yeah, I'll have Franklin boy. Franklin high school boy. He was my first boyfriend in high school. Oh my gosh, I remember being a freshman and, of course, I got swept up by a senior and it was like the fourth day of like us, what like talking on the phone remember we had all had our own phones, oh yeah. And the next day he put in a note in my locker. Remember how you could like put the notes, oh, so, let it slide in the in the bed, yeah, and the notes that I love you. And I freaked out and I was like oh, hell, no, oh, and I broke up with him like you're weird. Oh my god, like love bond, bro. It was so bad. The first time I was being love bond then what the hell? Oh, high school love, yeah, yeah, good old days. I think my biggest crush ever, though I mean my biggest sweetheart though was in college. Yeah, yeah, I met him my third year, junior year. He was a Delta SIG boy. Oh boy, he was a fraternity boy he was. I thought he. I thought I was going to marry that boy Really Did not work out. Yeah, your friends are the one on Facebook. No, I don't think he's on Facebook. Weird coincidence, though.
Speaker 1:After I got divorced the job I was working. I was going back and forth between Chicago still because our offices was there and can't remember how we connected oh, I had a car accident. I still had a lot of pain from a car accident, okay, and I was looking for different ways because physical therapy only got me so far and then I still had a lot of pain from it. I started looking at whatever wellness practitioners and this thing came up and I was like, oh, I'm going to call it. And then we were on the phone and I'm like Jen, I'm like yeah, and he's like this is so-and-so. And I'm like, oh, my God, it was him. And I was like holy shit, I'm like I didn't know that you had this practice. So like he actually helped me a couple times with the car accident, trying to realign my neck and my body, basically, oh, I'm sure he did try to align that body.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, found out he also was gotten divorced at that time and we hung out a couple times just as friends, but nothing ever came to it. I think he's remarried now. He looked exactly the same as he was in college. I'm like you've not aged, dude, everyone tells me that, but I look the same. He was very much a Matt Damon lookalike. Oh cute, hi. Oh yeah, he was hot. Oh yeah, definitely the one that got away. I'm so shocked we did not hook up when we both were divorced. Maybe he wanted to and I just couldn't read the signs. I'm going to wait that long. All right, let's talk about love, since you didn't find it in high school, but apparently you found it now.
Speaker 1:How is my macho man? He's amazing, amazing. Please tell me. You bought him something for Valentine's Day. Yeah, well, so far, I gave. I will give him a card, okay, and then I don't know what else I'm going to give him yet. Me, me, me wrapped up something. Oh, tonight, later tonight. Yeah, so tonight you're going to give him a card with you.
Speaker 1:Yes, so you have not yet figured out what to get him? I literally probably have 30 minutes. You're leaving right now. I have like 30 minutes to go get something before he gets here. Okay, you're, I'm not kidding, you are going to buy the man something. I will. I'm just trying to figure that out. I think I'm going to go to the man's store at Bridge Street and exchange. Yes, I think I want to go there and grab something for him. Good, macho man, I got you there At least. Hey, I've had the card for like a week now, so I'm proud of myself for that. I'm like the man in the situation of when I'm running out to the gas station like a gift Flowers at the pump. That's awesome. Well, I hope you guys have a wonderful night. Thanks for letting me intrude for a hot minute. Yeah, no problem, that way we could uh shout out our alpappers and tell them we love you. We do. We just want a Valentine's Day to be a good one for you this year.
Speaker 1:I don't think I can think of any bad Valentine's Day besides, like when I was single but I wouldn't necessarily call it bad, they were. Just it's different than when you are dating versus when you're single, right? So my Valentine's Day I've always been about my kids. Like I love Valentine's Day. Like I decorate, I have the placemats and the tableware and it's like a mini Christmas for us. So I love Valentine's Day because the kids run out and I cook like heart-shaped pasta and we have like chocolate pudding and I spoiled them with like little gifts and stuff.
Speaker 1:So I am excited about Valentine's Day. So I have a little surprise. Little, hey, jen, guess what? Oh, I know Guess what, what. So I went on a few dates. Okay, I know it's going good. I haven't said anything yet because I'm just, you know, I'm nervous, yeah, and uh, so today he's like did you get your gift? I was like, what do you mean? He's like I nailed it. Oh, I, oh, because you were gonna be together. No, I got, like I had three appointments and um doctors and taxes and he has his kid, and so it just wasn't appropriate and so he mailed me again. Oh, that's very sweet, isn't that nice? That is very nice. That was very thoughtful and thinking ahead. So good job, right, intentional. Yeah, I love it. So, yeah, I'm excited. That makes a Valentine's special for me. It does I like.
Speaker 1:I like spontaneous stuff. Like don't give me chocolates, I'll eat them. Flowers are okay. I'm like let's do a cooking class, throw some axes, and there she goes again. Speaking of the guy, of the relationship, um, I'm like you better shop with flowers, chocolate. Um, cook me dinner, dance with me in the kitchen and watch Around Pound with me. Oh, that's my Valentine's.
Speaker 1:Miss Romantic, I know, you know me and the sucker you are, you are, it's okay, you won't romance Macadodals. Are you gonna talk to the L Poppers. Uh, maggie's got herself a little Valentine's Day gift treat. What's your treat, meg L Poppers? Do you give your pets Valentine's Day treats? I do. Well, slow-looking Penny. Oh, imagine that there's Jen's phone with L Poppers hey, it's probably about your bad saying these on his way, uh-huh.
Speaker 1:So it's still my turn. Um, yes, of course I have to get Lola something. And then normally Abby has a one girlfriend that's always with us. That's like normally single at the time. So, uh, bronte will be home and so we'll have dinner tonight and hang out. Oh, I love hanging out with my girlfriends in high school. For that kind of stuff I care to grow for the pets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my college girlfriends and I still do a Valentine's dinner every February. I see them in a couple weeks Weekend. Are you going to go to Indiana? Yep, awesome, yep, we do a little Valentine's Day. Usually it's been Brunch the last couple of years, but this year we're doing a dinner just because I have work Saturday. I have to go, I have to cover the convention and, let's be honest, it's hard to drink tequila in the morning. Ah, jen's like we got to make it dinner. Can we have Bloody Mary instead? I don't do mimosas, because I don't like orange juice. You don't, no, but you'll drink a Bloody Mary. Yeah, that is disgusting.
Speaker 1:All sorts of levels, um, all right, so listen. Definition of true love. Are you ready for it, my black heart? Yes, are you sure? Yes, all right.
Speaker 1:True love is a profound and beautiful connection that goes beyond mere attraction or in, in quotation. What's the word? Invaduation? Invaduation, in fact, I won't be able to say it's like breakfast, oh my gosh, let's try to get Invaduation, invaduation. There you go. Oh, it came out good, oh price the Lord. So, yeah, mere attraction, or in, no, let me read it. Oh, my goodness, that's okay, hold on, let me, let me mute my dyslexia. True love is a profound and beautiful connection that goes beyond mere attraction or in fatuation. It's about respect, trust, empathy and crawling together. Beautiful, very. Did you make that up or did you find that somewhere? Those are my goals. Nice, that's what I would like to find with Mr Valentine that sent me my gift in the mail today. Oh, I hope that we find a true love connection that's deeper than anything I've ever seen. I hope so too.
Speaker 1:Do you know what, also this week, was my last live coaching session? Girl, did you cry. No, I was. I didn't even know it was my last session. Like my life coach was like, okay, this is our last session. I was like what, oh, my goodness, I'm like, okay, it's been like eight months. Eight months of a weekly, weekly call that's fricking dedication it was. It was hard work. I had homework but, girl, let me tell you like it was so worth it.
Speaker 1:It made me so focused and so like pursuing my passion, like made me rethink like my goals and life and dating, and I think that's why I've like manifested like this positive energy around me. It comes to like macho man, work, career. So it's Maggie. It was so bitter sweet. Quit, listen, we're talking about love. And she's over here like trying to get hit at John again. Oh, that's just going to find a fun job. Jen is such a dog mom. This is absolutely ridiculous. Put your human outside. You're working, you're working. So, yeah, it's been her sweet.
Speaker 1:He's like well, how do you want to proceed? Like, go forward after this? You're like with your clothes off. Can I get one more? Look, derek, please, just kidding. I should be like well, I'm not your client anymore. What would you like to do? Cue the body? I can't. No, you're like it now. We're friends.
Speaker 1:So I was like I got to think about it because I mean I don't really need the life coaching anymore, but I would like to have still, probably a once in a while check in to make sure I'm on my path that we've laid out. Well, girl, you need to start life coaching. You need to start being the coach baby. That is one of my passions that I am pursuing, that he has helped me with. So I am on the path. I will have. I will be certified.
Speaker 1:So I'm accepting anybody who wants help with their career and their career path. The life gins life coaching career coach door will be open. Hey, can't wait. I got to get busy on our network so I can pin you out. Yeah, it'll happen. I'm going to be certified from the International Federation of Coaching. So I've had way too many people ask me and I'd give advice, and now I feel like that could be a second career for me, because when I retire from medical devices I can't just retire. I would love to coach people in my retirement on their career. Young people, you'll be a mentor. Absolutely, I do it now. I can take him back. I already mentor people now, so why not make some money from it? Eventually you got plenty of money, maybe.
Speaker 1:Nope, she's young at Maggie, the nope is Alphabets for the Maggie. She sees her buddy walking by and always gives her treats. I'm surprised she didn't spell it. I want somebody to come by and give me a treat. He's called Macho man. I'll be giving me treats later tonight. Oh, my god, I'm going to throw a throwing up. I'm throwing up now, thank you. Thank you, maggie, for the distraction. I appreciate that Well. I and Matt know in running out of here before Macho man comes. I love you. Happy Valentine's Day. I hope that you guys have a very romantic, wonderful night. Thank you. I'm going to go home and hang out with my kids. It's been a long day and this week I'm going to celebrate with my Valentine. I'm excited, awesome. Well, el Papers, we love you. Spread your love today and this week and look for that download for the workbook in the note. Peace out. Love you guys.