Resilience in Mid-Life with Kelly Beins

We all go through stuff, especially once mid-life hits. Finding resilience and making the choice between recovering or not can be difficult, but not impossible.

This week I'm talking with Kelly Beins, an occupational therapist who built a business, closed a business, and now is thriving in her career.

You'll hear about the mental ups and downs in entrepreneurship and how it's not always as easy as pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. Kelly's humor and willingness to talk about the tough stuff makes this conversation really special.

Find Christine at:
FB: @emptynestkitchen
IG: @TheEmptyNestKitchen
Web: EmptyNestKitchen.com

• Follow Christine Van Bloem on Instagram @theemptynestkitchen and on Facebook @emptynestkitchen
• Learn more about Menopause Meal Plans
• Sign up for my FREE 10 Essential Tools for the Empty Nest Kitchen

Transcript

Christine Van Bloem 0:22

I am here today with, I swear everything I say is one of my favorite people because I am so lucky to have amazing, wonderful, strong, resilient women in my life. I want to say hello to Kelly Beins

Kelly Beins 0:37

hi, Chris. Thanks for having me here today.

Christine Van Bloem 0:39

Kelly, I'm so excited to have you. Kelly is an occupational therapist

Kelly Beins 0:45

Yep.

Christine Van Bloem 0:45

and Kelly and I have known each other for years and years and years, ever since her daughter was born. And my daughter were on a soccer field together when they were four and five, and we had met then and several years ago. Pre pandemic. Kelly, don't you feel like you have to split your life now into pre

Kelly Beins 1:06

Yes. Yes.

Christine Van Bloem 1:09

Right, and it's, and it's four years now. It's,

Kelly Beins 1:14

But that shows how significant it was, and here we are, so happy to be post.

Christine Van Bloem 1:19

We, we are lucky. We are certainly lucky. So. I mean, it's probably six or seven years ago, maybe seven, that I decided I wanted to bring a couple of women that I knew but didn't maybe know that well into a mastermind group. And we called it our Masterclassy,

Kelly Beins 1:43

Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem 1:44

which was so funny. And the three of us were in very different fields, but gave tremendous support and seriously, one of my proudest things.

Kelly Beins 1:55

It should be. It really, it changed the way I functioned, really, in my work. Work and life. It was just so personally and professionally such a great thing. So I'll be forever grateful you invited

Christine Van Bloem 2:09

my gosh. Oh my gosh. I didn't mean it that way. Well, okay. Listen, so you said, when I said, Kelly, I want you to be a guest on the podcast. You said, what would I talk about? Right.

Kelly Beins 2:22

Yes. Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem 2:23

Okay. And I was like, resilience, because you, to me, are the picture of resilience. And it's not, it's not actually pandemic related.

Kelly Beins 2:36

That's huge. Thank you.

Christine Van Bloem 2:39

So, Kelly, tell me a little about what you do now.

Kelly Beins 2:45

Yeah. So now I still am an occupational therapist, but I am using my skills in more of a consulting role. I don't work directly with clients anymore. I support providers. And so I work as my title, my official title is a clinical solutions manager. And

Christine Van Bloem 3:06

Ooh.

Kelly Beins 3:07

yeah, it sounds really important, right?

Christine Van Bloem 3:11

love titles. I love titles.

Kelly Beins 3:13

went through this phase where I was like, titles are everything. And then I changed to, I don't care what title I have. And now I'm like, you know, this is an accurate title and it, it has to represent what we do. So it makes sense to other people. And so that's what I do. I use all my clinical knowledge to put together solutions for different organizations and solutions using the programs at Unyte Health. And so I work with Unyte Health and support their teams in and their team working with large organizations. And so I support other providers and the team of people at Unyte Health. And it's just great.

Christine Van Bloem 3:56

that is so cool, but this is where I think it's really interesting because I want to talk about how we got there. So when I first met you, you were a practicing occupational therapist, like all those years ago. And then. you made the move to open your own practice, which is a big, bold, scary move, right?

Kelly Beins 4:22

yes. And I didn't intend to open my own practice, so I think I didn't really get scared because I did it in little gradual ways. I, I cre, I did it in a way that made it safe and comfortable and just kind of followed each little step to do it. So I didn't feel scared doing it. It felt like the right step.

Christine Van Bloem 4:46

That's it, right? It feels like the right thing when you are doing it. All right, so you end up opening your practice, you move, you start in a downtown area, and then you need more space.

Kelly Beins 5:01

Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem 5:03

Tell me about that.

Kelly Beins 5:04

Well, again, it was like, what's the right step? And I kind of, I've always followed my gut on things, and kind of figured things out as I went, and Sometimes that made things harder because you learn the hard way instead of learning from others mistakes but I didn't really know a lot of people in private practice at that time, so I just kind of surrounded myself with other people that I could partner with, and I was having success individually as a private provider, and more and more referrals because there was a need in the community. And so yeah, I took a step to find a bigger space that would allow me to do that. to partner with other people in private practice and rented to a couple and also hired a couple and so it just kind of gradually grew from there and then moved again because we outgrew that space so it just organically evolved over time. It was great.

Christine Van Bloem 6:12

Well, and I mean, that's the thing, the organic changes, right? That become bigger and you grow and you grow. And You had no lack of clients.

Kelly Beins 6:26

no, the need is huge. You know, working, working with kids who have special needs and supporting all, well, all ages, but all types of kids and families. I specialized in sensory processing, that sensory integration and combining that with mental health services is a real gap and a real need. And it spans all diagnostic areas because it's about the nervous system and how. How we function in the world. So no lack of need because all kids and all people have nervous systems. Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem 7:04

So when we started pairing up, you had been in your space not too long. And I remember you weren't paying yourself.

Kelly Beins 7:14

Correct.

Christine Van Bloem 7:15

Right?

Kelly Beins 7:15

Big

Christine Van Bloem 7:16

and I know, I wish, I wish you guys could see because Kelly just grimaced, right? And this is, this is actually a natural fact of entrepreneurism, right? So, I do want to point out here too that you have two daughters and a lovely husband and your daughters are growing. Right, and they're getting ready to fly the coop. They're getting ready

Kelly Beins 7:38

One is fully flown.

Christine Van Bloem 7:40

Yeah, yes right now So as all of this is happening your daughters are I kind of call it aging out of your house, right? They're getting ready to go. So you have this deep emotional thing happening with this your wonderful kids, and then you have this practice. And I remember being with you when you found out that you were going to be able to accept insurance. And I remember there might have been champagne. Okay, it was us, so it's probably Prosecco. And you were so thrilled because that was gonna help. But ultimately, you had to close your practice. Or you, I think you sold

Kelly Beins 8:20

I did sell it. Yes, I chose to close it. We all had to choose to close during COVID. In that, that was a scary time for everybody, right?

Christine Van Bloem 8:31

right.

Kelly Beins 8:32

And because we had just expanded in that last year staffing had changed bills were way higher financially things were unstable. And we had, I had just hired because of the expansion. And so I was leveraged financially, truth be told. And that's scary in business, right?

Christine Van Bloem 8:56

Oh my gosh,

Kelly Beins 8:57

It, so things, Felt rather unstable and in transition at that time and then COVID hit, which meant that some of my staff left. So even though we were successful at converting to telehealth, some of the staff had left, which meant we didn't have as many people. A big chunk of parents weren't. to telehealth, because it was brand new. It was brand new for everybody. And I get it, absolutely get it. So we lost clients. I lost staff trying to figure out how to keep things going and realized Looking back that it just wasn't going to be possible. Looking back and looking ahead, it wasn't going to be possible.

Christine Van Bloem 9:39

I remember. I remember with this. So, you go through this process and it's super painful. It feels like you're dying.

Kelly Beins 9:49

Absolutely. Yep.

Christine Van Bloem 9:52

But, and this is why I wanted to have you on the show, I, I love saying have you on the show, like, you know, like I know what I'm

Kelly Beins 9:59

I love hearing it.

Christine Van Bloem 10:01

but this is why I wanted to have you on, because you built the practice, you I mean, you were never making money with it. Because that's just, they tell you, you should be making money, you know, you should be paying yourself. And it's like, okay, I'm just going further into debt to pay myself. That's fine. But then you close the practice. And, like I said, like a death. It's, you can't, you know, I mean, we've both lost people close to us. So to equate it with a death, I'm not trying to

Kelly Beins 10:32

Yeah, yeah,

Christine Van Bloem 10:33

light, but you can't understand until you close a business that you have poured everything into. It's really, it's devastating.

Kelly Beins 10:47

It is devastating. And you know, I was thinking through it, like, I didn't know what you were going to ask me coming on today. Right. So in my head, I was thinking, well, she said resilience, but what, what, what does that mean to me? And

Christine Van Bloem 10:59

Oh, I

Kelly Beins 10:59

why would she invite me on? And I was thinking through and in my business, I did make money. And then I expanded. So I didn't. And so there was this real ebb and flow and the growth, personal growth that happens through owning your own business. And like, that's a rollercoaster, right? And

Christine Van Bloem 11:22

but wonderful.

Kelly Beins 11:24

Oh, wonderful. I wouldn't trade it. It's

Christine Van Bloem 11:26

But wonderful,

Kelly Beins 11:27

absolutely wonderful. And I think that's what registered for me when I thought of resilience related to my work life is that I always said, you can't separate personal and work. And my husband who is my primary support, right? Always said, you got it. That's just work. It's just work. And, When you're an entrepreneur and it's your own business, it's never just work.

Christine Van Bloem 11:52

It's never, oh Kelly, it's never. Owning your own business, it's in you through every cell in your body.

Kelly Beins 12:02

because nobody cares like you will, right? And so it is a loss like a death when you lose that, even when there's agency over it. And somebody said to me very shortly after I made the decision and then, then, you know, sold it successfully. So that's one of my proudest things

Christine Van Bloem 12:25

Oh my gosh, heck yeah.

Kelly Beins 12:27

but they said to me, well, this is what you wanted. And I was so shocked at hearing that because it isn't what I wanted. Ultimately, yes, I was looking ahead to my future and I didn't want to own a business the rest of my life. And the stress of growing and expanding and, you know, I had made the decision that at the end of this lease, if things look this stressful, this is not the life that I need or want. But nobody would choose death. Nobody would choose a loss like that. No, I mean, some would, right? Given the scenarios, but it's just, yeah, it is, it is a loss and you have to go through different hard things.

Christine Van Bloem 13:11

You, okay, you have to go through hard things. So there's this very cliche sentence that I've been seeing, right, when all the pretty little memes and they put clouds behind it and,

Kelly Beins 13:23

Wah wah.

Christine Van Bloem 13:24

something like,

Kelly Beins 13:25

Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem 13:26

something like you have survived 100 percent of your bad days. Right? And listen, I love a cliche girlfriend. I, like, give it to me all day. I practically have that tattooed on my tushy. Because it's like, it, you, you're in this phase of life. Everything is changing. Your kids are going off. Now, you and I are blessed with wonderful husbands and a fantastic support system, all of that good stuff. But We build these things and we're proud, right? We're proud. Let's not diminish it. We worked our tukus off,

Kelly Beins 14:09

Absolutely. 100%. Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem 14:11

I love donating a business. Oh my gosh, I loved it. And then we lose it. And you know that whole, again, an overplayed cliche, Phoenix rising from the ashes. But you dusted yourself off, you took a couple of deep breaths, and now you're working with a fantastic company,

Kelly Beins 14:34

Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem 14:36

providers, so you've been able to step away from the day to day patient interaction. Because you were ready to grow past that as well. You had done that for years and years. How do you feel today? How do you feel now?

Kelly Beins 14:53

That's a big question.

Christine Van Bloem 14:54

It is a big question.

Kelly Beins 14:56

it still depends on the day. You know, and I think that's the other lesson that I'm realizing at this phase of life and grateful for the wisdom that comes with this age. I wish I could grab that on the hard days. But I mean, you joke about the memes, but I'd looked up because I've got like three of them across my wall right now. And so today, how I feel, one of them says, I can and I will. And it's like, cute, pretty one of my close longtime friends, Courtney Prowl, put that together. She's a local artist here.

Christine Van Bloem 15:34

she's so talented.

Kelly Beins 15:36

talented. She's another one that like, really wonderful, great women that I've been fortunate to be surrounded by. But I can and I will is the one that lands for me today, because even this role that I'm in now has been an evolution. And when I started, With this company, I was still doing direct service and I was still connected to the OT specific mentorship program I was building. And, you know, lots of pieces and gradually the need at this company grew. So I, again, had to decide what am I letting go of? What, what should I be letting go of? Because I'm feeling called in this area. And. Again, trying to pay attention to what's the right next step. And this whole piece of, I put so much into this transition, and I thought I had transitioned because I moved into my business in a new way as a consultant. And again, I'm like, seriously universe, I have to let go again? And so I let go of my business, my kids are moving, they're leaving, like all of this letting go and some really hard family losses and really, you know, all this loss feeling.

Christine Van Bloem 16:56

I think we're in this season

Kelly Beins 16:58

Yes, it's

Christine Van Bloem 16:59

I, I, I think that mid when we're in the middle. I don't want to say middle age, but when we're at this age, I think this is a season of loss when I always refer to it as, you know will they say it was a tragic death or will they say, Oh, we're sorry, she's gone, right? Because she was older. And like when my grandmother died, who was 101. Bless her heart, right? She was fantastic and I was sad that she passed because she was a spitfire, she was so cool, but she was 101. So I had this understanding,

Kelly Beins 17:35

hmm. Yeah,

Christine Van Bloem 17:36

I'm interrupting your thought because,

Kelly Beins 17:38

Yeah, it's true. And so my biggest thing now in this position with work and with life because it's all there is how do we create space for both? And I can and I will is I can, it doesn't mean it's going to be easy, but I will. And what do I need to make that possible? And to me, that's Resilience. That's really what makes us resilient, is how do we get what we need as we go through the hard, so that we

Christine Van Bloem 18:13

goodness, Kelly, you!

Kelly Beins 18:15

I don't know.

Christine Van Bloem 18:16

head I'm thinking, I won't and I'll nap on the couch.

Kelly Beins 18:22

Oh, I do that too. Not enough napping,

Christine Van Bloem 18:24

balance. It's a balance. You know, that's like you hold a donut in each hand and what do you call that? A balanced diet, right?

Kelly Beins 18:32

so true. You know, the irony too, as you say, like that balance piece, the company I work for now, which is, I believe in full circle and the woo woo and all of that. And, and I have a strong faith, you know, that comes in. And so, The company I'm with now, it's like everything's coming full circle because their mission is to build resilience in the world. Because we work, our programs are nervous system regulating tools and programs for therapists. And so it's fascinating to me how I ended up in this place and this position because now I get to personally and professionally align my life and it's challenging me to do that.

Christine Van Bloem 19:22

you have such a positive mindset. And I know it's not always that way because I've known you for a

Kelly Beins 19:27

Yes.

Christine Van Bloem 19:28

Like, I get that. I get that. We're doing

Kelly Beins 19:30

You've seen me in those

Christine Van Bloem 19:31

joy, joy. Yeah, of course. We all have. But I think mindset, you know, everybody out there, I'll talk to you now about mindset and all that. And I have always been a woo resistor, right? I have always been like, whatever, please. And now I'm like, I'm not quite full woo, but I'm, I'm dappling, dabbling, dabbling in the woo. And it's, gosh, I love it. I love it.

Kelly Beins 20:03

There's something there. There's something there for sure. And it's, it's supportive.

Christine Van Bloem 20:07

It is. It is. And, you know, I'm going to bring that back to something that we talked about the last time we had dinner. And Kelly and I have a dinner on the books, which I'm very excited about because we have such a good time. Sometimes too good of a

Kelly Beins 20:21

yeah huh

Christine Van Bloem 20:25

I remember you said, I really need to focus in on my female friendships. And I really am, I don't think you use the word craving, but craving that connection. And I think that's another thing at our age that I think, so you have people you've been friends with for years and years and years and years, right? Like the kid

Kelly Beins 20:49

yeah

Christine Van Bloem 20:49

right? The parents of the kids that your kids hung out with and you were at the activities and then that slowly peels off a little as your kids move on and they, Some might hang, but like I'm still close friends with, I think, close friends with one person from that kid phase, right? And then I have a, and I have a, I'm very fortunate. I have absolutely wonderful women around. But I do think, you know, finding new friends and, and getting out there because I won't, and I'll nap on the couch can be, you know, end of the day, what are you going to do? Cause again, nine o'clock I am in bed snoring and drooling.

Kelly Beins 21:37

yeah, it's the energy and our lives are so different now without our kids guiding the day to day, that it's an opportunity and it's exciting and it's a relief in some ways, but it's

Christine Van Bloem 21:52

Oh my gosh. It is a relief.

Kelly Beins 21:54

relief, like, the pressure and the weight and the stress of and it's not all gone now. It's big life stuff that they need us for,

Christine Van Bloem 22:01

Oh yeah.

Kelly Beins 22:02

but the day to day, how we structure ourselves that, and as an OT, you know, the occupation of parenting is different now. And that's, Great. But yeah, we're different people as a result and needing, needing to structure that connection very mindfully and intentionally is what I'm feeling in this phase.

Christine Van Bloem 22:26

Yeah, I totally hear you. And you always love your kids. You, I'm not saying that, but you get a little break here and there. And I feel like now that we're empty nesters, because like you said, your oldest is grown and flown, your youngest is in school, and she's in school far away. She's halfway across the country, you know? So now, I have, like, we have all this time. There's time because I'm not gonna work 16 hours a day.

Kelly Beins 22:55

anymore.

Christine Van Bloem 22:56

I love what I'm doing. I love what I'm doing, but I don't have any problem doing nothing from after lunch until 7 30 or something when I'll pull out the laptop and I'll edit an episode or I'll develop some menus or I'll do something like that, but I know that you are a Lustful traveler. I know you I know you love to travel.

Kelly Beins 23:24

way I say it is I'm learning to love it because it's not my nature, it's my husband's nature. And so we have engaged in a lot of travel and I'm learning about travel and how to make that fit for me. Because for him, he'd travel every day of his life across every country. Nook and cranny, big, small, anywhere. And so that's something we've been navigating as a couple and he doesn't get why. It's an effort for me sometimes, and I don't get how he doesn't get tired.

Christine Van Bloem 24:00

that's how, that's how we are. That's how we are. Okay. So I'm going to bring up something painful, but I remember

Kelly Beins 24:08

okay, I'm

Christine Van Bloem 24:09

you. Nick, I remember running into you and your husband at the local Starbucks the morning you were supposed to be leaving for, I think, Paris.

Kelly Beins 24:22

Yes!

Christine Van Bloem 24:22

you were sitting at Starbucks and I said, Kelly, why are you sitting at Starbucks when I thought you were supposed to be in Paris? And what had happened,

Kelly Beins 24:33

Well, we were, we had already been a couple of years prior and that was the first international big trip that we took together. And both of us had done little things prior in our lives, but that was our first big international couples trip. And we had such a great time that we wanted to take our girls and start showing them and teaching them about the world. And so we planned this big trip, and we got to the airport, and we were supposed to go to Paris for four, five days over the long weekend, and then go to Belgium and Holland.

Christine Van Bloem 25:08

right.

Kelly Beins 25:08

And so, we got to the airport, and we're checking in, and we couldn't check in. Something on the passports wasn't working, and I assumed it was because I was Canadian, and or the gir well, the girls had dual at that time. I'm now a dual, but at that time I was just Canadian. And we called the guy over to help us check in, he said, Oh, this is because the passport's going to expire. I was like, What? Going to expire? And sure enough, one of our girls, or both of them, I don't remember, their passports were going to expire in under 90 days. And I didn't know that rule, that

Christine Van Bloem 25:48

I didn't know that rule.

Kelly Beins 25:49

well we learned the hard way and he said you can go but your daughters will have to stay and I'm like, there's no way we're doing that,

Christine Van Bloem 25:59

Right, right.

Kelly Beins 26:00

at, we're at Dulles Airport and one of them couldn't drive yet.

Christine Van Bloem 26:05

And wasn't this one like a Saturday, a Friday

Kelly Beins 26:08

was a

Christine Van Bloem 26:09

a Saturday? Yeah,

Kelly Beins 26:11

after, good memory, Friday afternoon at like five. We were checking in at three. And so we had to come home and we missed that part of our trip. We had to go to the embassy on Monday morning, first thing.

Christine Van Bloem 26:25

That's the, that's the kicker to me. That you lose the whole weekend.

Kelly Beins 26:29

yes. So yeah, it was awful. We lost, it was awful. And how fortunate are we? Oh, big, like,

Christine Van Bloem 26:38

yes.

Kelly Beins 26:39

still

Christine Van Bloem 26:40

live a life of privilege and we know that. We are aware.

Kelly Beins 26:43

And that was a mom challenge for me at the time. I realized my husband went to, Danny went to deal with figuring out what we needed while the girl, I was literally in the middle and this is. Where moms live, right? My husband was at the counter, the girls were over near the window with the luggage, and I was sorting through something, maybe passports, and I realized, like, how we show up right now is part of the lesson for them. And I went

Christine Van Bloem 27:16

you're so good.

Kelly Beins 27:18

It's Divine Intervention at that moment. It wasn't, because I was not feeling that. And my brain was spinning. And so I went over to the girls and I said, Okay, let's figure it out. And let's see what we can do to help dad figure out what he needs. And so I'm really proud of us at that point because we also then all came home really like, you know, down, frustrated and angry and like in disbelief that we were actually coming home instead of being on a plane. And I decided to try and make some lightness there. And so we went to Starbucks the next morning, Danny and I, before the girls got up, just as a way to like, keep our heads together. And. We spent, I spent the weekend taking pictures of things that were where we were supposed to be. Like when you came over to see us, there was a picture on the wall, like Starbucks at the time had these like

Christine Van Bloem 28:18

oh, I remember this.

Kelly Beins 28:19

skates or like landscape pictures. So I took a picture of that landscape and I was like, you know, is this the mountains of whatever? Or I don't even remember. And there was a church there. There was a church across the street at St. Paul's. It's a Greek church. I took a picture of that church and I was like, is this Notre Dame? Nope. It is St. Paul's Church in Frederick, Maryland. And then, you know, the creek in Baker Park. Is this the Seine? Nope. This is Carroll Creek. You know, everywhere we

Christine Van Bloem 28:50

a good attitude.

Kelly Beins 28:51

Well, thank you. And it was intention I was trying to keep myself cheered up because it was not a

Christine Van Bloem 28:59

It was sad. Yeah, it was sad. And I, I remember. I remember the attitude coming off of both of you, and there was frustration, but there was lightness and humor, and that, I, I mean, I don't know if I could have handled it that way.

Kelly Beins 29:16

I don't know how we handled it that way, but I am proud of us and it did make it more manageable. And I really was in mom mode at that point. I really felt, you know, how do I want, how do, How do I need to show up for the girls right now and get us through until Monday and get to that embassy and thankfully also shout out to I forget her name now, but the woman at the post office on Saturday, she was amazing getting us our pictures and we took pictures there and like we just tried to really keep that part of our family adventure and it was and we made it to the point we were the last people out of the the Embassy or the passport office that day and everybody there, like the security guard at the door was like, go, go, go! You have a plane to catch! And so we raced down the highway to the airport and literally made it in the nick of time for our flight. And

Christine Van Bloem 30:15

Oh my gosh.

Kelly Beins 30:15

memories now, regardless. It wasn't

Christine Van Bloem 30:18

And that's, that's the resilience. That's the resilience because we are all going to go through tough times, right? And I just, it's something I really appreciate about you. I seriously just got little goosebumps thinking about you and, and all of that. All right. Before we go, this is my question to ask. All right. Because I know you are a food lover

Kelly Beins 30:42

Ah, yes.

Christine Van Bloem 30:43

and good wine. You like a good red wine.

Kelly Beins 30:46

do. I do.

Christine Van Bloem 30:47

I like a good white wine.

Kelly Beins 30:49

Well, I don't, I don't turn that away.

Christine Van Bloem 30:55

I'm really into Sancerre right now, which is I believe kind of a derivative of a Sauvignon Blanc, but it's you either alone or with your husband for dinner. What are you having on a regular weeknight? Oh, I

Kelly Beins 31:10

Well, last night we had steak and a nice cabernet.

Christine Van Bloem 31:16

Okay, I literally had a bowl of mashed potatoes for dinner. That's, that's why I, seriously, I made, I just wanted mashed potatoes and I turned to John, I was like, I'm just making mashed potatoes, there's some gnocchi in the fridge if you want it. He was like, mashed potatoes would be great, and then he ate most of the mashed potatoes. I was very upset because

Kelly Beins 31:36

Well, full disclosure, the night before we had crudités that was left over from a family birthday celebration with hummus, like, you know, let's keep it

Christine Van Bloem 31:45

We run the gamut. I love it. I love it. I love that you had like a nice dinner last night. That's so

Kelly Beins 31:52

did, yeah. That's part of our empty nesting. Like, we, we're allowing ourselves some of those treats on a weeknight instead of waiting for special occasions, because

Christine Van Bloem 32:02

Well, heck yeah

Kelly Beins 32:03

can.

Christine Van Bloem 32:04

that is I have come back into cooking. It's one of the reasons i'm doing Empty Nest Kitchen Because when you cook professionally A lot of people, here's the dirty little secret of the culinary world, when you cook professionally in whatever capacity, if you're not eating over the garbage can. I can't tell you how many meals I've had over the garbage can at work or getting fast food. I remember, I remember in culinary school walking down 2nd Avenue in Manhattan, walking my chef, it was one of my other Students and we were walking with our chef because he was the greatest. He was so cool. Mike, Chef Mike Oh, and I said, Oh Chef Mike Do you just eat the best food all the time? And he said I eat Chinese food and McDonald's and he worked at Le Cote Basque, which everybody should know if they watched Truman Capote and the Swans because La Cote was where it all went down. He worked there and I was like, what? He's like, oh yeah, you get off at 11 o'clock. You don't want, you know, anything. You, you're stopping and getting whatever you can get.

Kelly Beins 33:14

get it. It's you've been doing it all day.

Christine Van Bloem 33:16

yeah. But now I'm really enjoying, mashed potato dinner aside, I really am enjoying like quick meals but that are still really, really good. I think it's important.

Kelly Beins 33:29

Absolutely. And that's a balance too, right? Like mashed potatoes are a treat.

Christine Van Bloem 33:34

Yes, they really are. They

Kelly Beins 33:37

a family to feed now, so I can eat mashed potatoes for dinner if I want to.

Christine Van Bloem 33:41

Yeah, it's good stuff. It's good stuff. Kelly, you are just a darn delight. Thank you for doing this.

Kelly Beins 33:49

Thanks so much for having me and for, it just, yeah, makes me feel happy too. So thank you.

Christine Van Bloem 33:55

Oh my gosh. Well, I will I'm sure I'll see you soon next week

Kelly Beins 33:59

Absolutely.

Christine Van Bloem 34:00

But thank you for sharing. Thanks for sharing your story. It's not easy to, to share sometimes.

Kelly Beins 34:07

Thank you.

Christine Van Bloem 34:09

all right. Thanks, Kelly.

Kelly Beins 34:11

Thanks, Chris.

Christine Van Bloem 34:12

Bye!