From Mobile Bookshop to Brick-and-Mortar: How Trope Bookshop Scaled Its Business

Sabrina Simpson: We had a technical difficulty. Where are we going? Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. We we this is like the fifth take of this now. So, but it wasn't our fault. It's only happened twice in h the history of Look Love explains. We think. I don't fully remember. We had on the Amazing Girls of Trope Bookshop, the romance only summut bookstore in Plaza Midwood of Charlotte. We had on Katie and Amanda. And it was such a fucking rock star episode. But it was nearly five hours long. It was so long. So it's actually a gift in disguise. We just sat up here and yapped and yapped and yapped. And drank Lambrusco. The good news is nasty French wine. Yeah, I couldn't finish that. The good news is there's about two hours. We got the meat. We got the meat podcast. What we didn't give you is our off campus review. Dissertation. Sabrina and I are going to record that as a separate episode. But this episode is really exciting and fun because we interviewed Katie Mitchell God. Years ago. Right when she was just bus only mobile bookshop. And we wanted to have her and her best friend Amanda, who's coming on in a more permanent role to trope. To talk about friendship and the business, pop culture, books, like where they see themselves going. It's just a really good, meaty, fun girly pop episode. I love to see the transformation from three years ago. Like Katie's life is completely different now. It's insane. And she's just fucking thriving. She took one singular idea, I think, from one of their girlfriends. She says who. I'm blanking on what her name is. And like has turned it into this million dollar business. Yeah. Which is she's such a hard worker. And I just love to see her succeed. Yeah. It was very cool to have her on. So listen, it does abruptly cut off. So we apologize. We apologize. But please go find them on Instagram at Trope Bookshop. And they're over off is it Lion? Lion L Y O N Court. Lion Court in Plaza Midwood, right off Central. You guys are gonna love this episode. Cause you're giving me life, baby. It's alright. Yeah. It's alright, it's all in the way and move. ⁓ okay, so you two. Wait, do you have an intro? No. No. ⁓ it's just like a cold open. We're always recording. Okay. Do you do you what do you do? How does that make you feel? ⁓ do you want us to do it for you? Yeah, please do. This feels weird. We're doing it in front of other people. It's kind of weird. Wait, wait, I'm record. Yeah, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold hold hold hold hold hold on. Okay, go. Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to the story is pod with Katie and Amanda. Every episode. That's what? Yeah. Yeah. Wait for We should do it again and have you put your names in at the end. Yes. Okay. Okay. Well you do your part. Yeah. Yeah. I'll go first, she'll go next, she'll go second, and then you can go third and you go fourth. So you have to say your name and then your name. Okay. Hi, hi, hello, and welcome to the story is pod with Katie and Amanda. And Charice and Sabrina. We did it on the first take. Sometimes it takes Katie and I like three or four times. How many zodiac episodes are there? And then hold on. How many episodes do you release a week? Two right now. You do sit there and where we were. I know. It's a lot. It's two is tough. It is tough. But you guys have Katie's like she loves Zodiac Academy. She can't stop. Okay. You have the like whatever it's called that you or content that's always available. For us it was like what are we gonna talk about? Because there's always a new book. There's a new book or something that you can talk about. Or mo like I you've been doing the Zodiac books for a minute. Almost Literally in August it'll be a year. Is that when we started them? Mm-hmm. Okay. How many books are there? Got it. A lot. So there's okay. This is a complex answer to something that should be very easy. Lindsay Bazuti's one of her favorite series ever. Yeah, this is where I've heard of it. Yeah. So you've got the original Zodiac series, which is book one through nine, with a ⁓ with a one official novella. So ten books in total. It's a lot of books. That's right. Are they chonky? Yes. Yes. Well they progressively get bigger. The one that we just covered was just under a thousand pages. That was book five. Yeah, like the audiobook at normal speed, I think was like twenty six hours long. Okay. Yeah, if you're an audiobook listener. All of my audio books recently have been around nine, ten hours. Nine to twelve. Nine to twelve's normal. That's like a tem like a a contemporary romance is typically in that realm. Yeah. I would mm sixteen ish hours, maybe is I would say. Like your cowboys, they're not that long. No, that's tr that's fair. That's yeah. The cowboy books and stuff are usually pretty small. The like what I'm obsessed with right now, and we're we're gonna Dive into this, so don't respond just yet. But L Kennedy Yeah. L Kennedy. I can't wait. Amanda's time. I can't wait. L Kennedy books are like twelve hours. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Are you listening at one speed? Yes. I want to say I'm one and a half. I'm one. Okay. Should I listen faster? So she's in the twos. Okay. ⁓ I'm at one. I'm at one. Okay, let's let's back up. There are there are levels to this. But but l before we move on, let's talk about let's throw closely up on Zodiac. Let's let's closely up for you got ten. Thank you. You got your truth. Okay. So there's the ten, what we'll call like traditional books in the Zodiac Academy world. Then you've got point five, one point five, five point five, and then big ass party. So then you've got four. Little novellas. Okay. That are more, I would call them more unofficial. They're written by the authors, of course, but they are not like their covers don't match the other one. It's giving very much like side quest vibes. Okay, just for like, ⁓ this seems like a fun thing we could write a little novella about. Is it good? That's a complex answer as well. Okay, okay. And then in the Zo Okay, so then a spin-off of the Zodiac, you have ⁓ Ruthless Boys, which I love, which is a five-book series. Loved eight out of the This is different and I did not care for those. This is different than ⁓ yeah. This is different than Tomlin Boy series or some something of that nature. They're making that a show. They are they are okay. And the people had a lot to say about it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of trauma in the book world. Okay. Always. Okay. Wait, do you guys disagree a lot about your opinions of books? On some things. Yeah. I mean generally the vibes are the same. Yeah. And I It let me let me put my statement out there. It's not that I don't like the Zodiac Academy. ⁓ see, and that's just not true. But go on. It's not that I don't like it. It just could have been five books. I think that's my problem, is that we're creating problems to solve problems. Yeah. And I'm like, why did we do that? Did we need to do that? So you you like. Okay, because when I become obsessed with something, I am like, I want every single crumb you could possibly read. And I I never want to end and I don't care that it's problems creating. It's just I'm immersed in that world and I love to be there. And I'm I'm with you on that. Sabrina's like you. Yeah. Get it done. Let it die. Let it die. Like a show. When a show goes on too long, I'm like, now it's not good. Yeah. I I do feel bad about shows. Yeah. I will say that. That does feel different. I am one of the ones though that will hang in. Till the end usually. ⁓ so you're s like still watching Grace Anatomy? That's the one. I watched until I watched, I'm gonna say season fourteen. What are we on now? Twenty two? I I made it to fourteen. Wow. Okay. But my best friend Christy, who we were talking about before, she still watches. And she'll like tell me what happens. So then that's good enough for me. Got it. I don't even know what the longest series I've ever watched is. Maybe Friends? Friends of Seasons was that nine. Yeah. Yeah. And back in the day it was like 24 episodes each, you know. That's a lot of content. Yeah. And they're Friends is good until the end. Yeah. Totally. I'm trying to think of like one that I've hung out with. I personally believe I might get hate for saying this. Gilmore girls hung out for a season too long. I agree. I think the problem I'm on season six, episode four right now. First time watching it. First time or how many how many seasons are there? Seven. And I'm loving it. And then they did the the problem with Gilmore Girls was that when Amy Sherman Paladino and Dan Paladino stopped writing for that like two season and we made some changes and it wasn't the same. Like the wit wasn't there. Like you'll be able to tell you you probably already are in. I guess if they're only seven seasons, like the wit doesn't feel the same. The writing is not quite as like fast. And then she came back. Well, who's your man? Who's your Logan? Logan. Yeah, girl. That's Logan Huntsburger. Yeah. I love it. He's hot. He's the rich one, right? And that's and that's in the book world. I don't want a broke ass bitch. This is fiction, babe. Yeah. I want everybody to be rich. I'm I'm not That's such a good point. No, no, yeah. I'm not into that. Yeah, yeah. I'm not into that. Why are you broke? Yeah. Like what Escapism. I am broke. That seems like I don't need help. That's weird because my bank account's also at zero. I don't want to relate. Exactly. I want to do my last twenty seven dollars on this book. Well it's kind of like the housewives thing, like you're watching for like ⁓ what do they call it? ⁓ Aspirational well. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, no, I'm I'm not here for these these broke in these books or in these shows. I'm like, no, watch a documentary for that. Thank you. Are you watching Real Housewives of Rhode Island? ⁓ I haven't started. Okay. Have a confession. Yeah. Not a housewived girl. That's so fair. Same. Yeah, that's so fair. Everyone has told me to watch it. The last episode we recorded, we talked about it. I said I was gonna start it. I watched four episodes. You tried. Of which of what? Rhode Island. Rhode Island. Which makes sense. Like it's the newest franchise. So do you talk about this all the time? You feel like there's too much history. I'm a woman of pop culture. Okay. I know what's going on. Like I don't need to walk like I I consume enough like pop culture things and like I I know what's going on. You're aware. I know that they hate each other. I know she flipped the table. Like I I I know I know what's going on. Harry Styles on the tour that everyone's hating on TikTok. Like that's what I'd rather do. What's going on? Are people hating it? People hate it. They actually changed the stage. I do that because it was so obstructed. It was too high. Yeah, fans could And no one could see. Everyone in VIP was blocked. And he had low energy. I heard it. And we have tickets to in New York. Yes. I mean it's gonna be amazing still. I like I read the comments where people like, okay, everyone needs to shut the fuck up. I still had the best time. Like I still love Harry. Yeah. Did you like the album? I think it's hard. Mm-hmm. See, no liked I feel like I'm the only person who likes it. It's like fine. I think I just was not we've talked about this on our podcast a couple times, but I'm just like I felt like it was missing. But like I the the the branding leading up was a little misleading. Totally. I was prepared for like recession pop dirty Kesha in the bathroom, like absolute fucking bangers. Like even, dare I say, a maybe ⁓ a an ode to the One Direction Days. Like I thought we were getting like and that's just not That's how I felt that's Taylor's last album. I was like the mark the marketing at all are two different. And it was very let down. But Harry's I suppose concert piece of it for Harry is and again we've talked about this in nauseum, but we now all live in a post eras world and and even like a post Sabrina world, like i how do you compete with that? How she feels the bar is so high. Yeah. It's it's in the stratosphere. Yeah. And Part of and we literally just talked about this. I think part of it is like you just have to go, you can't compete where you don't compare. So it's almost like instead of trying to top this, which you can't. Yeah. You almost do something that's so stripped back and less that it can't be a small venue. Or just like less, less of everything. Because you can't, which is why I think like Charlie XCX had such great you know, success is like she does nothing. Yeah. There's no production value per se. It's just her by herself. She's it's just her. There's no backup dancers. There's the crazy, like, no screen. Are you guys Charlie XXX girls? Or no? Okay. But but I think that's why she found such success because they're in no world she's Did you ever hear anybody make the comparison? Yeah, No, because it's not Charlie X. It's not even apples. It's apples and oranges. Totally. But Harry I know everyone's in his his flop era. I'm just like, no, hurry. Why did I like the outfit? He could have just like kept his persona of performing as like the next Elton John and n everyone would have been happy. Everyone was down for that. And he wants to try something and I as an artist that would fucking suck to be just like put in a box. But I don't want this. And that he probably was on drugs when he was touring. Last time and now he's not. He's a runner. Like he's he is a runner. And this fitness era. Yeah. So we know why he had to run, because you run around that damn state is so goddamn big. It's cracking me up. It's huge. I'm like, What were they thinking? Looks so crazy. Yeah. Listen, he went, he went, he is in his health era now. He went and got his little hair plugged. Listen, he got of new thing. We're just in a different era. I just think the I think we all need to maybe shift our ex me included, shift the expectations a little bit. I do too. I do too. Like I still want to go to the big bands. There's a couple songs. I love American Girls. I love Coming Up Roses. Mm-hmm. We don't mind DJs Don't Dance. I like DJs Don't Dance. I loved the video. And I thought that okay, so the video came out and then Amsterdam Week weekend one happened. And I was like, he's gonna be out in his like slutty little shorts. So I thought this is the vibe we're gonna get. And then he's out there. In the Like his librarian outfit. And I didn't understand. I know. I was like, I get that this is, I'm sure, Alessandra Mikhail Gucci. Like I get it. Like, but sure. Who cares? But who cares? Yeah, not slutty little shorts, I agree. Also, it's not love on tour. You know, it's just it's a different It's just a different beast. He was a rock star. Yeah, so and every night it was different. He had like the matching sets and then the mismatching sets. And then it was just what a time. I noticed that tour for three years. But you Nator was three years long. You know, then it like I know it. I do. And it's so hard because it's like but he's so compared to someone like Elton John. And it's like, but just Then just be Harry Styles and that's that's great. Yeah. I think the big miss the first two nights was that everyone was like, Wha where's the energy? Like he doesn't look like this feels like a cash grab. He's just not into it. He's also dancing and he's kind of laughing. Yeah. Because I think he knows like This is not what I do. Yeah. Which is what I'm doing. Yeah, but why would you allow the ⁓ album to be marketed as a dance album and that you're dancing in the videos and you're dancing on SNL or whatever? I know. And all of those things if you're not a if you're not a dancer. I like will not disparage. You like Did y'all watch the SNL episode where he did he host and I loved that episode. I thought it was one of the their strongest of the season. He is so Charming ⁓ and like when he wants to be. Yeah. But boy, he can turn it off. Yeah. He can turn it. If he is not into whatever we're doing, he can just see it. Did you watch the Apple podcast interview with Zane Lowe? Well, no. Yeah. Okay. He was like kind of off in that. I was like, what is wrong with that? Like Zayn Zane from One Direction? No, no. Zane Lowe. He's like a music journalist. He's been around for forever. He's like Australian, maybe. Yeah, but he does a lot of ⁓ like op ed pieces on music. He's from New Zealand. And he does ⁓ I think he writes a lot for ⁓ Rolling Stone. ⁓ okay. So he interviewed Harry. Yeah. Okay. And then he does like long format like for like usually hour interviews. Okay. And Harry was low. Yeah. Harry was low. I was surprised that they talked about Liam. Liam. I know. Yeah, that was shocking. The the clips were clipping for that. And I think that Zane's probably the one of the only people that could have gotten it. I think he had to. I think it had to I and I think that would be the only time it's discussed. I don't know that he really like said anything of major importance. It was a bit of a nothing burger. Okay. It was but he did but he was like very emotional, which he isn't typically yeah ⁓ it's the first time he probably actually like publicly said anything about it. It's it's the only I mean because when Liam died, the only announ the only thing that he has done or put was the very initial like Instagram post letter that all four of the other boys how many wrote quote unquote. Yeah. And that's it. He has n I don't think it's been and I'm certain that in any sort of press when they were promoting the album that they were like, No, we do not talk about it. Yeah. But that was the only time. Interesting. And he's gonna be in New York. And where does he go after New York? Is it back to London, maybe? He's in New York on Liam's birthday. ⁓ And he's somewhere else. And he may be back in New York again on the day he died. Jeez. But he has shows both days. So I am really interested to tribute. Yeah. I don't. You don't know. think if we get one it would be on the day he died. I don't think it will be on his birthday. And I Can you imagine I don't know singing that in honor of him? ⁓ it's just so tragic. No. All of it is it's sad. Did you see his ex, Liam's ex, I can't remember her name, Katie the one he was with when he died? Yes. She was just like detained at the airport because Her face did not match her passport. I did see this. That's her? Yes. I did not rec I did not put that together that that's who that was. Right. I guess she's had some tweaks and her passport photo no longer looks like goals. Yeah, honestly, wow. Right. ⁓ ⁓ She was she was complaining about it. I ⁓ 'cause she was like, you know, online saying, I can't believe this happened, this, that, and the other. And they're like, girl, the photo, and I'm like, Two different people. It's all the same person. Your hair is also different. Like there's a lot. There's a lot going on. I mean, she's like a platinum blonde now, and her her her photo is like she's got dark hair and this. ⁓ so the customs worker was like this is not you. She was like, I'm gonna need another form of identification. I think is what she asked for. Because this photo doesn't that's so funny. That's not you in this photo. And and she was like, I can't believe this happened. Every was girl, isn't that what you wanted? Yeah. Isn't that what we're paying for? So like we're talking about Mora from fucking Traders. ⁓ those are two different people. Fair. And that's what she wanted. So much. Love. You've got to watch the next episode. I know that I haven't seen any of Traitors. She's not. She's not either. I've watched a couple of episodes with you. Uh-huh. Damn it, I love But I did Alan Cummings. ⁓ my god. Coop and I died. I love him. His little dog. Yeah. You just have to start with the season to get into it. You know? Yeah. Can I tell you this is so controversial. I can't even believe. Okay. The one of the greatest traitors players Who? Who do think? And I'm saying this because he was great on the show, not because I like him, was Tom Sandoval. I'm sorry. He was very good. Hilarious. You know who we loved that everyone else hated? Michael Rappaport loved Michael Rappaport. She hates Who is that? He's you would know him. He's like bit parts of a bunch of shows. You'll know him. He's the one actor. Yes. Yes. He's The one in Scratch. He's very controversial. Mac Michael Rappaport. Yeah. He shoots the bird out Phoebe's window. They're about to move in together, and then she's has to break up with him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. He's very controversial. You guys liked him in it? I liked him. Cooper and I did. Charlie really liked him too. I just like let it go. That's so fair. He just was Being on so crazy. And when he was like that he did that whole coffin episode and he's wandering around like huff and puff and he calls everybody a miserable fuck. Incredible. And the way he says it, Cooper walked around for a week calling everybody a miserable fuck. It's awesome. It was awesome. It was amazing. Yeah. And you're like, say it again. And I actually Yeah. He was so entertaining. When Tom Cannabal sang into the microphone backwards. Yes. It was like, I'm a singer. And everyone was just like So what do these people do during the day? Like what's the show film it really fast? Yes. So they film all day. But like what are they actually are they doing games? Are they just competitions? Challenges. ⁓ there's challenges. To get money for the pot. ⁓ And if for the pot. For the pot. Like there's a th you're trying to make money during the challenges for the pot. You went up to, I don't know, a quarter of a million or something. And every challenge, every company can win money. They add into the pile. Kind of survivor style. Like right? Like you go in and then you split it amongst like whoever is there in the end. The end of every episode. We should have it just to make it to the end. ⁓ so the pot grows until the very end of the season. Yes. And then if a traitor, the every episode you vote someone off who's a traitor or faithful, and if any traitors are left at the end, they win them. They get all the money. But if you're 'cause you get you get down to the end where there's it typically what happens is there's like three people left and they're like, I think you're faithful, and they go, Great, I think you're faithful, and you go, I think you're faithful, great. And then we go, We're all faithfuls. And then they go, Yes, we're gonna end the game. Uh-huh. But if I'm lying and I was a trader. You're winning the money. She wins all the money. Okay, so what questions do the people ask the traders? And you all the time. The audience knows who the traders are, right? Yes. Yes. Last season The audience didn't there was one secret trader and three known tra two known traders, three known traders. Three known traders. One secret trader to the audience. To the audience and to everyone and including the traders. I did too. It was so fun. I I feel like yeah, I gotta get it give it but like it's fun. 'Cause I always think about myself and if I was the trader. And like 'cause I'm already smiling thinking about like if someone asked me a question I'm like, I don't know. Maybe like I don't Well the problem is you've got to remember your lies. That's what that's a shear. ⁓ so that's what fucks people up. I mean I that's where what would get me, I can barely remember my name. Has how many seasons have there been now? Four? It star well, it started out in the UK. So there's like original it's kinda like Love Island, right? Like the UK g did it first and best, and then everyone was like, you know, the Americans were like, Let us ruin it. Yeah. Has there been a trader that's been successful? Yes. yes. Was Rob a traitor? This is where Dylan Efron came from. Before dancing. ⁓ they just put him in there because he was a hot brother? Yeah. Yes. Got it. It's that level of reality. Wow. Now it's kind of creeping up. But ⁓ and then Dylan was so well received. He went on to fancy. Yeah, literally. And like what comes out of his mouth? He's so sweet. Who ⁓ I he's so cute. He's so cute. Who ⁓ what what celebrity would you guys want to go into Traders? ⁓ that's such a good question. Now that you've seen it. ⁓ Renee Rapp. ⁓ That is such one. She would be just crack me up. She would murder these. She wouldn't She would almost think up to be a faithful because I think everybody would think she was just a traitor. I'm trying to think of how. ⁓ Trixie and Katia. Yeah. Incredible. I mean, but like that's that's a dream. I would like Leah Michelle. Ooh. Blast from the past. Yes. That's a good one. That's a really good one. That's a really good one. I wonder if she'd ever do it. It would probably save her career. Honestly. If only she could read. Not again. If only she agreed. I would like to see Caitlin Bristow. She'd be really fun and entertaining. Sure. Okay. But like what of a higher caliber? I don't know that it's higher caliber. ⁓ my god. An A-list. I'd love to see ⁓ Connor story. Yeah. Yeah. That would be so fun. That would be Him and Huddy would be incredible. That would be so fun. That would be It'd be the most watched ever. Ever. Quite literally ever. They're probably gonna do that. Just like dancing with the stars. Yeah, that's true. That is true. Turns into a bigger I'm trying to think about See the thing with traders, at least the US version, because it's an NBC show, it's a lot of like Bravo Weber Dis. Yes, yes. All the people that are on like Peacock. Yeah. They're building up the budget for bigger. Caitlin's doing that. It looks awful. That I don't remember what it's called. Caitlin Bristow. Yeah. Did you see this? Is it a show? Yeah, it's a new reality show. Wait, she's not on the not Mormon Moms one, right? No, it's not that one. They count this up. A B C are they really gonna air Taylor Pink Taylor Frankie Paul's stream. Are they saying they're going to say the word now is that they're gonna air it this summer. My understanding was that it was gonna be on streaming only. ⁓ right. That was what I'm just gonna pay for advertising on that now. Yeah. I don't know. Right. Reality retreat. No. Yeah. ⁓ she's hosting. I was no, she's a mess. I was not really a mess. Yeah. I said she's the best. No no girl. ⁓ bless. ⁓ I was never really into the Mormon Wives what is that show? Secretary I never watched a single episode. I got into season one. Which is so funny to me that Train would watch that, but not House Rapbo. I think because it was just like new and like there was no like can can I there's nothing back about it. It's it's more interesting to me than Real Housewives. Really? Like I didn't finish it either, but I found it more interesting for that reason. Because I didn't know. We're houseways of Rhode Island's new. Mm-hmm. So there is no this is why Cooper and I started it. So we have like a new show with the gays to watch. I love it. But yeah, because Traders is off right now. So we're both like two feet in because we're like joining in. Sure. And it's a lot less cumbersome. Sure. There's no back, there's no baggage from a hundred seasons previously. And it is good. Yeah. Yeah. They're messy. They're messy. But are they rich? Yeah. Well some of them. See, okay, I'm already out. No, I will let them see your problem. Like terrible. They have terrible shit. It's sort of jersey and Jason. Right. It's yes. Yes. It's nothing to look at. Dolores' sister some some relationships they look alike. A lot alike. Yeah. Wait, I thought it was Melissa. I thought it was Gorgas. No, no. It's Dolores. Yeah. There's one that looks like Melissa Gorga, though. Don't they all look exactly the same? They all look the same. But one of them does need a nose job. I can't believe she hasn't had it done. Everyone's like that. And I can say that they have an injectable. They do. Which is like more power to you. Interesting. It's a very specific look. Look. Yes. They're like very tan. Most all or all are brunettes, I think. I don't think there's any blonde. Wild. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Fascinating. They're all white. No. White and they all look Italian to me. I don't know. Yeah. Like Syri Syrian? Where are the Kardashians from? I think it's Armenian. They're not Armenian. They're not Armenian. I have to look it up. Jordanian, perhaps? Perhaps. I forget where Rula said she was from. Are we almost ready for Lambrusco? ⁓ pop it, honey. Mind you, girl? My point is you sold a car today. Get in there. Think about it. Because it is all that Cooper and I talk about. I love that. So is that the only franchise that you watched? Yeah. ⁓ I don't we don't watch Summerhouse. We don't like none of it other than which I've heard we should ooh. That was easy. That was a good one. Summer House, all you really need to watch is this season. And the reunion. ⁓ thanks. I watched Summer House when it first started because I'm a Bravavich to my core. Yes. And then I stopped, just I couldn't, there was too much content to consume. Yeah. And then I came back and in my corporate office, the gorlies told me they were like, you need to watch, I think this is season ten. So I watched nine. And now I'm into season ten and I'm like four or five episodes into season ten and this you don't be season. This is the season. Yeah. Thank you. With everything that's going on. I'm not. What did I chug the ⁓ it was a Cosmo. Ooh. That's like a 20-something year old move. We're doing, we're chugging a cosmo. It was when I tell you I was on the brink of acid reflux yak. ⁓ boy. ⁓ no, ⁓ no. I did not. I'm not worried. I did that just for you. Anyway. You're welcome. ⁓ okay. So all the way back to A from Z. Zodiac. So we're back. We're back. Honestly love pop culture. Little pop culture recap for you. Thank you, sweetie. You have two episodes a week. One is follow along book series. Yes. And yeah, so our Sabrina put the link down ⁓ and we're all service. It's fine, it's fine. Usually ⁓ I don't show noise. I'm like, ⁓ it's very ⁓ together. We've got Nigel barking in the background. Right. Producer Tomy. God bless her. She's like Nigel. We fixed it. We fixed it. But ⁓ yeah, so our Tuesday episodes are our like sort of more evergreen kind of like weekly content episodes. We first half of the episode we talk about. It's our section what kind what came across our desk. So it's all of our like things that we found this week that we thought were interesting. It's a lot of pop culture. Like we talked about the big pregnancy announcements last week, you know, et cetera. When you guys are on TikTok, do you literally like just go to your notes app and like write down a little ⁓ bit because I can't remember anything. Well saying God, this is just my favorite bottle of wine ever. He's so happy. It's so good. Katie, I can't even tell you Lambrusco season is my favorite. That's my back stuff first, so could really love and savor this. ⁓ this is nice. It's pure sugar. No, wait a goddamn minute. Wait a fucking minute. This is a porch pounder. Charlie's porch powder. I love that. ⁓ my god, I'm putting that in my back pocket. Mm-hmm. They're sexual use and called porch pounder too. Yeah. ⁓ really? ⁓ yeah. Adorable. I can't DM it. I'm sure I stole it as somebody else. But that is those are our Tuesday episodes. Okay. Right. So the first half is is our pop culture catch-up, what happened this week. How long are they? About an hour. Typically our episodes are about an hour. So the first 30-ish minutes or so is where we talk about that. And then the back half is what we call the book report. I sing it just like that. I love this. Until one of our sippers, that's what we call our lips. Sippers, yes, comes up with a song that we can actually use. And Sipper is S I P story is pod. So the Sippers, that's where we got that. Thank you, Charlie. We yes, Charlie named them. Charlie. Shout out. Cooking over there. Cooking. Yeah, we named our own fans. Yuck. I love that. But you know what? I think we have to Somebody's got to do it. Somebody has to do it. Everyone names their own fans. I know. They try to pretend like they don't. Whether they say it or not. Sure. You you're telling me Monica didn't come up with the arm cherries or the cherries. There's no chance. She absolutely can it's adorable. I've never come up with one for ours. But I guess it would just be like girls that like funny girls. Good. Girl. That's it. That's it. That's the word. The funny girl. See, and I was thinking like L O L because you're the glove. So I was thinking like L like you could do. We're in a weird spot. Are you gonna rebrand? Yes. I think we're Okay, wait, so the pod is gonna continue on. Yes. ⁓ transatlantic. I like it. Transatlantic. We're the transatlanteans. ⁓ cute. Yeah, I feel like you guys are good at marketing. ⁓ you are suggest. The only we're trying. ⁓ that's cute. That's very cute. Yeah, and then your listeners can be the ponders. Maybe that's what it is. Wow, this is really cute. We'll ponder some research. I'll take 3%. We'll just get free rent here. ⁓ We're all in office. Yes. At the end of the day, you could rent out to multiple leave it furnished. Because I'm not furnishing this. And we'll just use it as office space. I can bring clients here. You know. They can do their book and podcast here. Business. Sure, our neighbors would love that. Yes. We'll call incubator. George would. It is an incubator. And this is what I say. I don't remember asking. I don't remember asking. That's weird. That's what I say. When someone's like, I don't know about that. I'm like, I don't remember asking for George. George George loves me. ⁓ George is a French bulldog next door. ⁓ I was George's house. French Bulldog and I have been a little bit aggressive about like, I'll watch your dog for free. Like every time I see them and I'm like, I think I went a little bit too aggressive. They haven't asked you. They never asked you're too available. Their mom came from Texas to watch the dog and I was like, Ooh, I think I came on too strong. That's okay. Anyway. And then our Friday episodes. ⁓ yeah. She's back. We're back. She does read domain two. Yeah. And then our Friday episodes are our deep dive episodes into like whatever series we're covering, which is ⁓ sorry, sorry, let's back up. Book report. Okay. Weekly episode, the on Tuesdays. Book report is that's where we talk about book news. Book news, which Lisa would be shocked. There is something every fucking week, you guys. So I follow an account ⁓ that you guys told me to follow. Of course I don't know it off the top of my head. But they tell me all the book stories. Sure. And there's just It's an Intrue account? Yeah. In True Sharice Fashion, there's just like 75 saves of gotta read this, gotta read this, gotta read this. And like I don't know any of them. Welcome to the year of our Lord 2026. Okay, we are we are over drinking from a fire hard term right now. It's crazy. Is it because there's there's just so many more releases because books are taking on a whole new well, no one's producing r ⁓ original thought. movies or T V shows anywhere. It's all adaptations. It's all adaptations. Yeah. Or like a remake of the thousands, you know, fucking Marvel movie. Like there's no nothing's new. Give me a break. So ⁓ yeah, so that's where we talk about all the things with the books and like a lot we do we talk a lot about like book to movie adaptations in this section or book to T V show adaptations or new books that are coming out or like big announcements from our authors that we love. Yeah. So that's kind of SJM. We did a whole SJM episode. We did. So that's what we and then we end the episodes with what we read in the past week. Okay. And sometimes it's didn't finish anything. And then other weeks it's we had four that we finished. Like it okay, so it varies. But you can read four books in a week. Rarely. But like but sometimes but we also can't we count audiobooks. We don't we don't discriminate on all audio books. But I'm not even listening. I mean, there's no chance I'm finishing it in a week. Well she from Anna's little Timmy Tap. Right. At her corporate corporate shop. So she lives constantly all day. That makes sense. And then if I'm at the store and I'm unboxing stuff, I'll be in the back with my headphones in while one of the other girls is in the front room. Like, Yeah, Mondays, like when the store is closed. Yeah. Yeah. So what's the most talked about like movie adaptation or TV show adaptation or book release? Like currently right now. Multifold. Right now it's off campus. That is what everybody's talking about. Great! So we came We got a a small redo with ⁓ the people we meet on vacation. And like weathering height. Sure. It had like some that's its own we don't have to talk about that. But you there was there was some weird. Did you like it or hate it? We I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. Really? No. And it got it it was. Okay, well let us tell you we fucking loved it. Okay. We thought with both of Our husbands and then the two gay boys. Uh-huh. They did I would say no one liked it. They did not love it. And me and Sharice were like, That was incredible. I'm gonna see that movie once a year because I loved it so much. ⁓ yeah. So I think the hate that it got was the way that it was marketed. ⁓ and I don't even know if it was the way that it was marketed. It's just the weren't in Hollywood. Yeah, we weren't paying attention either. Because it's in qu withering quite heights is in quotes. It is Emerald's version. It's very different than the book. So I neither. Okay. So it's like I was cool. But Ryan did read it, right? And he was like, That's not the book. Yeah. And I was like, Wow. I think that's a general complaint from most people. I think the the first problem is with Heathcliff, right? Which is Jacob Lurie's character, right? He's black. Like that is a that he is a person of color in the books. Yeah. That is why the book is so taboo and controversial and like was so before it's That's interesting because we could have easily cast Ray J, whatever from Bridgershire. ⁓ Lucian Va Lovis Count. Yeah. I mean my god. The the options are emulant. You mean you've got literally the world at your fingertips to like cast subject. That's what I'm saying. There's there's too many good toys to it in that me over the edge. ⁓ or ⁓ I did Tyree Withers. Like there's just too many options. Okay, so that's a thing. Right. So that's the first part. That's I think that's the first issue. If you don't listen to any of that, it's a great movie. Yeah, and then I think like the film, if if it had been called literally anything else, it probably there would have been no feedback. But The book community, as we know, is very passionate about their books. Yep. And they have no problem letting you know their thoughts on casting, on choices that were made with the script. And casting tough. Casting's tough. This is why we have talked ad nauseum on the pod about some of these fantasy adaptations. Yeah. ⁓ specifically Fourth Wing because we know that one is like greenlit and it's moving forward. Is there any news on Avatar? No. Avatar is dead. Yeah. It's gone back. Yeah. It's gone back to SJM. Yeah. ⁓ so like chissery sell it to be So here's here's We have some conspiracy theories. I'm gonna try to I'll try to explain what we think has happened. ⁓ huh. The the the the Sarah J. Moss camp famously is very tight. Yeah, they're tight, right? Yes. Okay. There are almost no leaks. It is a very small circle. We have it like on extremely good authority. Her circle is like four people. Like it is very small and it is very tight. And they're just, they just that camp just does not have a lot of leaks. So initially back in what God was that 2021? Years ago. When she sold it initially to HBO. Okay. Or it went up for auction, HBO bid it, they lost the bid. Hulu ended up winning the bid. Okay. She had that very famous, I'm saying very famous. If you don't follow the book role, you probably don't know shit about this. But there's this very famous to us. There was this very famous photo of Sarah J Moss having ⁓ what seemed like a meeting with Margaret Robbie in New York. Yeah. And then people just I mean, like from one photo The rumors were just crazy. Yeah. It was the year of Barbie. That the window. Okay. Okay. Yes. So it was We we're hearing she's ⁓ that Margo's gonna be a producer. We're hearing Margot's gonna be in it. And and with love you guys she's a fan also. Like no show. So but we do know for sure that it got sold to Hulu. And then ⁓ when you you of course you buy the rights to something, you have X number of years to execute it. And if you don't, then you forfeit the rights and they go back out for auction. And she keeps the money. So I I don't know how that part works. I don't know how that part works. But it's about a percentage percentage. Yeah. I mean, my guess is yes. It's like a like yeah. It's like an in good faith, I would imagine. You know what? I think they keep it because I'm pretty sure some like big movie houses do this so other people don't come out with things that compete with theirs. That's something. That's So they just buy it. Remember this happened in the studio. At the show with Seth Rogan. Which we haven't watched that show, but I was like, okay. Okay, okay. It's Apple, right? We started Apple. We started industry last night. ⁓ do you like it? I'm in the I've heard great things. Wow. Season two gets way better. ⁓ season one is it's a finance show, right? It's kind of succession yes. Yeah. But way more sex. A lot of dicks. So a lot of dicks. Like a medium. Yeah, there it Might as well. Yeah, might as well pick up anywhere else. Might as well watch that. I love that. She so Hulu had X, you know, two years or whatever to at least start production on it and to retain the rights. They for whatever reason w didn't were not able to, or whatever. So it has gone back out to market. So it is now up for grabs again. As far as I know, it has not been picked up anywhere else. I mean, that is I could be completely wrong, but I don't believe so. And Well, we believe that that there's a reason for that. So while all that's happening, Sarah J. Moss, she man, this is her contract with Bloomsbury is which is their publisher. That's that's her current publishing house. ⁓ she has three books left to fulfill her contract. Yeah, so in twenty twenty two she renewed her contract with them and signed on for three more books. So so remember twenty twenty one is when that was year of Barbie, right? Twenty twenty one. I think so. It was right after COVID. So that's your Barbie. So anyway, so year Barbie that happens. Twenty twenty two, she re-signs her contract with Bloomsbury. She signs on for three more books, three unnamed books. So we don't know if those are Avatar books. We don't know if those are Crescent City. Okay. We don't know. So she renego I I think it had to be more than that. I think it had to be four books. 'Cause that the math doesn't really work. And that's kind of when it started like really taking off a life of its own where everyone was like, I gotta watch Avatar, I gotta read Avatar. Yeah, because book talk really took off during COVID. Which we we the we were v victims. Sure. ⁓ we ⁓ participants. Yes, we we participated. We joined. Yeah, we became acolytes of Mommy Moss as I like to say. When she so when that all happened, when she n renegotiated her contracts She we assumed we've done this deep dive before, and I'm not gonna be able to re-remember it all now. But basically we did the like the math of like, okay, well then if she did four books, then it almost had to have been the next Crescent City book because it hadn't come out yet. So And we're pretty sure there are only gonna be four books. That would have been from the from the previous contract. So that takes that out. So now she's got one more Crescent City that she owes us. She just announced the two next Avatar books, but really she announced three. Okay, so we have dates for two of them, which are in October and then in January. And she signed she had to do three more books or four more Four. We think four. We think four. We we think four. We can't recall. I think it's four. But all that to say, she did all of this when she re-signed her contract. Then last year we found out that she had move she moved all of her ⁓ licensing licensing and IP over to IMG. Which is Massive, right? That's right. So now IMG owns the licensing for all the merch for all these things. Which I think is why Hulu probably dropped that all kind of fell apart. So now I'm I'm guessing that now IMG has something to do with the rights for any TV or show adaptation. Or they would have to be involved. Okay. Is IMG what do they do? Are they Do they produce movies? Or they is it just books? It's like an advertised company. So they're like a conglomerate. You've seen them. Like IMG, like Kendall Generous Sign Times. Like a model. It's like an agency. Okay. Yeah. Kind of like a marketing agent. Kind of. Yes. It's like a like you know, IMG like W ⁓ E or Yes. Yeah. Or W E ⁓ E like all those are sort of the same. Okay. Yeah, so she is International Management Group. Yeah. Great. So she is fashion events and media. Yep. So she is now repped by them. Which was that's a big deal. That's a big deal. It was a big deal, especially in in like when we were talking about earlier merch, right? Because a lot That's everything these days. A lot of smaller businesses e held licenses that expired in April. Yeah. So last year when this news broke, she said not she. Yeah. Yeah. They basically came out and said, You have to have made X number of dollars in revenue to qualify to continue to hold her licenses. And the dollar amount was very high. So basically all small businesses. Four or five of them got eliminated and were no longer eligible. So they had their licenses basically for one year longer. And the only reason we know all this is because the designer that we worked with previously had licenses for some of her stuff. And she was the very last person that got renewed under the old contract. Wow. So all of those expired at the end of April. So now starting May first, everything of this year. Every so like what, three weeks ago or whatever, everything now rolls under IMG. ⁓ so there's gonna be something coming out soon. That's right. Well, and she announced the new books in April. So they're it we're in a transition period. Like the biggest she went on the caller daddy podcast, et cetera. That one I did enjoy that episode with Alex Cooper. I only listened to the first half and I loved it. I really enjoyed it. Yeah. I don't normally love Alex Cooper's style of interview but I really enjoyed that. It was interesting because again, we knew she wasn't gonna give us a ton about what's coming. But she talks a lot about her personal life, which she doesn't do. In normal. ⁓ so it was interesting, I think, for the fans. There's just not a lot of interviews with her previously. She's a little taste. She doesn't do a lot. Good morning America. And that's about it. Well, in Good Morning America, you get three minutes. And it's very surface level. And like who cares? Right. Yeah. Well, you're getting, you're not getting into the nitty-gritty with her, right? You're getting of like, wait, daddy's your book come out. Yeah. ⁓ Right. Well, is it true that she started writing ⁓ Avatar when she was sixteen? Throne of Glass. That was her first. Yes. ⁓ yes. And it is her most fantasy. Bless you. I know. I had a sneeze too, but it left me. It's very sad. Okay, so she was sixteen for Throne of Glass. Yes. When she started it. Yeah. But she scrapped it. So she wrote some drafts and then My understanding is she then like scrapped it and started over. But it is interesting where the idea formed and then 100%. She also like she doesn't plot on paper. So when we have authors on, a lot of times we ask them if they are a plotter versus a pantser. So a plotter is someone who's like very methodic and like Right outline. Correct. Okay. And a panther is just a baby. Yeah. A hundred percent. Like there, whatever. It's by the seat of your pants. That's where the price comes from. Panzer. Yeah. You're the other one, aren't you? You just sit down and you just I'd have to know how it ended so that I could write it appropriately. Yes. Well, this is Batten's card. And I'd go back and figure it out. Correct. And this is how we got there. And then Sabrina would be like, Well, we never got there. It's fine. Maria's story just continues on and on and on. ⁓ but she told me how we get zodiac books. ⁓ Yes. They are not. Maybe I'm back in. Never mind. They just go on to infinity. ⁓ they're panthers. They are panthers. I'm disgusting. I they're not know that for a fact, but like that's what Is that not called yes to say? They have not. We haven't had a response. Tony hasn't received anything in the inbox. Guys, if you're listening, Caroline, please, please, Suzanne. Please, they're They are hacked sisters. There's two They're two authors they write together. ⁓ my gosh. And they write POVs. No. No, no. Girl, no, no. No. Not even close. What are thinking of? I mean, it they're saucy, but they're not. Like you get a like a threesome foursome, but we're not doing anything like groundbreaking. ⁓ okay. Okay, never mind. What am I thinking of? Like Pucking Around, maybe? No, that that's pretty intense. Emily Wrath. That's pretty intense. I had when I More intense, I would say. When I read Pucking Around, there were scenes where I was like And see, girl, I was clocked in. I'm like, ⁓ yep. I see it. Because I see his done. His I just ⁓ sometimes I need I need a little bit Yeah listen, I did have to pause every now and then been like, okay, so sh this is like Okay. Got it. Okay, yeah, I'm in, I got it. Like and then you just move on. But there are. You have to reread a little bit. Well, I would go, now wait a minute. About sex positions? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because they're especially when it's like Along multiple partners. Yeah. And I'm like, how are we? Yeah. Where is how I don't know that I've ever even read a threesome. What? What? Now I've been reading G rated my God. Smut. I don't think I've Have you read a threesome either, actually. You should have told me and I would have brought a scene for you guys to read. Like while you're sitting here. Damn. Damn. Pull one up on the phone. Yeah, pull one up on your kind. Are you gonna do puckin' around? I mean, can we make a reel on this? There's a reason. That's a really good idea. There's a very, very famous scene in Puckin' Around where it's i there's ⁓ three guys and one girl. Okay. And it's a very very famous scene. Okay, okay. Well we're Yeah. Let's do that. It's all for I feel like I need to tell you the the p the positioning. Is that weird? Yeah, no. No. I want to know that I can visualize No, no, no, no. That's the scene I was talking about. Chapter 73. It's fine. Okay. So after seventy three. I'm talking about the scene where it's all four of them. Five of them. And this is from which book? Puckin' around. By Dr. Emily Rath. Dr. Emily Rath. It's a hockey book. Yes. So the ⁓ Tampa Bay Race. The goalie. The goalie is grumpy. He's big. He's a sweet. Jacksonville race. Is he a sweet? ⁓ the goalie, yes. Spinnish. Spinnish? Been Nordic. Yeah, Nordic. Nordic. He's a big Nordic boy. Great. And he is not interested in the other men. So he is only interested in the girl in Race Equation. One-on-one. So he's flat on his back during the group. During Coitus. Yes. They have a they have like a massive bed. Yeah. In this because they all live together. They all live together now. Amazing. Yeah. But he is not really he is not interested in the other boys whatsoever. Now the other two boys, the other boyfriends are boyfriends. And they're into each other. Okay. So the Swede is. Flat. Okay. She is on his back. No, she's on his back. Yeah. She's straddling. She's on top of him. Okay. ⁓ I don't know why you're not recording this, because this is perfect visuals. This is great. I love the straw. She's she is so flat, she's here. Okay. Then you've got one boyfriend number two is d behind her. Wait. Okay, there you go. Right here. Here, just go from that side. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Where's his head? His head's up here. ⁓ okay, okay. Wait. His head's up So it's Wait, th you're talking about the goal. The Swede, the Swede, this is his head. These are his feet. Okay? So what's boy in the booty. He's in sh he's in the back. He's in the booty. He's in booty. And then boyfriend number three is in the booty of boyfriend number two. ⁓ my god. Wow. All at once. Coordinated effort by the whole team. And the only one in the girl is the goalie. Right, correct. So he 'cause that's the only penetration that he's interested in is with the only person touching the girl really is goalie. Well, no, and the guy behind her. Well, to hold on. Right. Yeah, she's in his booty forward. Whoa, in her booty. Yeah. Yeah. I think that in the goalies. No, no, no, no, he's not interested. The only person okay. How many pages did it take to set this scene? A while. It's pretty deep in the series. Yeah, it's It's a pretty chunky book. It's not like five or six hundred pages. Okay, yeah, we gotta we gotta read this. I mean, yeah. If we can't do it today, we should go into the store and do it. That was But the but the back two boys are you know, they have to move in unison, right? Because they can't be all we're gonna love this video. Okay, they're all hockey players except for her and she's the she's the athletic trainer. Yes. Okay, let's pause really quickly on the book talk. Okay. T A L K Sure. I know I have I'm curious. I'm curious when you two, and correct me if I'm wrong, because I know where Sabrina and I grew up and where we came from and where we're at mentally with our sexuality and everything, but I don't know where this is for you two. When did you two feel okay and comfortable to A, even be having a conversation like this? ⁓ yeah. And B, ⁓ that it wasn't quote unquote wrong and I know that's not the right word to read these things and then to be talking about them. You go first. Because I know I know where you grew up in that's not you were Iowa, right? Arkansas. Arkansas. I'm so sorry. That's okay. Arkansas. That's not the norm. No. No. Okay. Do you remember see, like I can remember probably being in high school. Amanda, how old are you? I'm 38. I just turned 30. Are you 38? ⁓ I thought she was That is the right reaction, ladies. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're 30. How old are you, Katie? You're 35. I'm 35. I was like, we're the same age. I'm 34. Yes. I thought you were. I had such a baby. I just turned 30. Shut up. She thought it was in my 20s. I thought you were like 2020. I thought you were 30, 31. Yeah. Hey, same for you. I mean, you two. Thanks. This is the nicest thing you ever could have said. Teenage mom. So you are. Yeah. You barely, you didn't even be the teen mom allegations. I have a baby and I'm the youngest one here. So 16 and pregnant. That's right, that's right. That's right. Unless my friend in high school, Andy, that was 16 and pregnant, is listening to this. I love you so much and I really respect what you did. And amen. I cannot leave her 30 childhood alone. She's literally, I only see her on Facebook, and I know this because I just shared this is ⁓ my God, what a tangent. I just shared my father-in-law's passing on Facebook. But that's like The last time I post on Facebook was with my mother-in-law passed off. I know it's she's like really bringing us down here. I really am. But then every time I'm on Facebook, I always say, What is Andy Ross doing? Because I always she That's the teen mom. That's the teen mom. She got her nursing degree and she just fucking killed it at life. And this little girl is literally in college now? Yeah, I think so. She's still like more like telling it. And she's like Laura Lyon. And she's she's my age. She's opening and dragonfly. But I have no, she's like a very successful nurse, I think. At least on Facebook, she looks very successful. But she I I have a one-year-old and she has like a what a 20-year-old. 20 year old? Listen, I, as someone who's never crazy. I could you imagine having a 20-year-old. No. That's think about it. I can imagine what she went through at 16, what I just went through in the last year, and I'm 34 fucking years old. The respect. I have for Andy Ross is like nothing. It's not exactly the right time per se to be having kids. I don't, and I'm gonna speak for her. And feel free to DM me and I will delete this part of the podcast, Andy. I don't know if she listens or it's not getting deleted. But I would think she would agree. It was not planned from what I remember a million years ago. But like how most 16 year old pregnancies are not planned. But Think about it now. Like you'd be done. You're done. That's what I'm thinking. And you live yourself. It's like when we retire when you're like 70. Like you, yeah, you know what I mean? Like we should be retired when we're young. I literally was home alone thinking about this. I was like, if Charlie and I were to adopt a newborn today, right now, I am 40, dropping off at kindergarten. Yeah. But that's that's that's like most of Millennials that are crazy. It's just a it's sh that's just a weird sentence to like think about. My mom was much younger. So my mom was yeah. My mom was twenty one when I was born. Yeah. See, my mom was thirty one when I was born. So that was a different yeah. See, but that's like not that far off then from Andy. That's only five years. Right. You what I mean? Right. It's crazy. It's just a weird thing. And then Charlie would be forty two at kindergarten drawing. It's just weird to think about it in low schools. I will be like On a vacation with her having to give my child to my sister for kindergarten that week. Mm-hmm. Being like celebrated my fortieth. Bye. You know what I mean? So yeah. It's weird. Anyway. Wow, what a tangent that was. Where were we? We're back to you. Go. Yeah, yeah. Todd, please let us know. We are available for purchase. ⁓ my god. So where were you when? I can remember probably being maybe in middle school, seventh or eighth grade. ⁓ how young and my ⁓ reading one of my mom's like Nora Roberts books. And was your mom a reader? Yes, my mom has always been a pretty voracious reader of all kinds of novels. But I read it and I was like, This is and my mom came home from work and she was like, Mmm, I don't know if you maybe should have read I like, Well the damage is done now. Yeah. and and then I probably didn't pick up another like truly romance novel. Until right before COVID. Yeah. Like twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen. I think that's such the millennial like path. What about fifty shades of gray? That is where that's where my story comes in. Okay. ⁓ I'll I'll be there for I'm telepathic. I don't I I remember reading Twilight. Of course. I remember reading High School Frames of Grey and it being like and going to see the movies and being like, hmm. interesting. Interesting. But then I always tell people that there wouldn't be a trope if if we hadn't read Avatar, according to Thornton Sorosis. ⁓ like that's what really we had been we had like a little book club with some friends that pre COVID. It was probably 2018. Yeah. Yep. 2019. Yep. Literally right before COVID. Are you still friends with all of them? Not really. I mean they they were they were they were like ⁓ neighborhood neighborhood friends. They were not related to super close, tight friends. Yeah. ⁓ but Jess, I mean that's true, that's true. That's true. We're still friends with Jess. So we read like the gamut, because everybody picked something. And there were maybe like seven or eight of us. ⁓ that's fun. And then we started picking up Avatar. Yeah. And it was Katie was still working with me at our corporate world. It was corporate world. Yes. Yeah. Okay. ⁓ and I started working with her in 2016. Okay. But we had known each other for when did you get married? 2016. So like a year and a half or so before. Yeah. The twenty end of twenty fourteen. What was the moment at work where you're like, hi, bitch. I like you. ⁓ I can tell you that exactly. ⁓ Great. I I worked, I still was working at JB Hunt. Mm-hmm. No shop. Log logistic company or something. Okay. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I had just moved to Charlotte. My like to be a little bit of a downer for a second, my sister had just tragically died in a car accident. And I moved here because I needed to I got couldn't couldn't do Yeah. Moved here. Charlie was here. You have four sisters? Three. Three. Three. Yep. Okay. And she was how old? She was the she was the one directly behind me. Yeah. She was number two. Okay. Yeah. That's tough. Yeah, it was brutal. But ⁓ so I moved here and Charlie had just moved here and I was still working my job and ⁓ Amanda was one of my clients. Like she we like worked together in terms of like Okay I was a customer. She was like a customer of mine. Yes, business to business relationship. And I had been emailing with her and I and I got the I mean, her name's Amanda, so I'm like, okay, she's gotta be like close to my age, right? Like ⁓ that's so funny. Late 80s, early 90s, like there's not you know. Yeah. This is the prime time for the Amanda. Jennifer, Jessica, Amanda's Stephanie's, you what's bitch name. Yeah. So we had been emailing back and forth about some work stuff. And every now and then, because I would say our communication style, ⁓ in the corporate world is pretty La Z Faire? ⁓ I would not say super super corporate y. Sure. So Amanda would s send an emails. Well right. And then she or she would send a message and just be like, Can you have this done for me today? Or something, something, something. And then she'd be like, this fucking sucks. Or something. Or like, wow, this is brutal. Or like whatever. Yeah. Like, ⁓ okay, I got it. We can be we can be like same level. You know, yeah. Girly girly chat here. Love that phrase. We kinda started that way and then she showed we I was nervous. I came in for a meeting. She brought Bro Jangles, I remember. I do. I brought I brought in I did a like client visit and I hadn't because I'd never met any of them in person. I was like, ⁓ we're all in Charlotte. Like, I'll just come by and did that. And I was like, ⁓ my god, they are. They are my age. Cause there was you and Caroline. Caroline was You had never done a video chat? No, so not really. This was like 2016. This was we were no there was no Zoom. No, we were there and there was no need for us to really. It was mostly just email. Yeah. So weird. Can't even think about it. Yeah, we weren't. It's you came in, and that was when so when I started working for the company, there were like five of us. Right. There were a few more of you than that at this point. There were there were like six or seven. Either way, I went in and I was like, ⁓ my God, you're a girl and I'm girl. And you're kind of my agent. your age and I yeah and I remember you being like do you want to go to dinner on the company account and I was like yes I do I do perfect correct so I did that we did that like a week or so later yeah and ⁓ at dinner Amanda was like so are you like gonna be our friend or what? And I'm like love that I go I know no one. So I was like perfect. Great. Perfect. I'm in. And I like, now you have to be friends with my friends. Right. And then it just kinda went from there and she's like, Well, these are my friends and if you don't like them, I guess you like can't hang out with us. I'm like, perfect. I love them. ⁓ and you're like a fragile little angel girl. I I knew no one. I knew no one. Yeah. I was in a really weird spot. I had like I said, my sister had just died. It was a whole thing I had gone on like a major ⁓ ⁓ Avenge. I was have side quests of like just a lot of stuff. And so I was kind of coming off that. Charlie and I were like dating very seriously. We had just gotten engaged. Like we were just entering a new phase of life. And I was like, I think I might need like ⁓ some friends that are not one million percent. That's where good girlfriends are. Not from your previous life. Not from my previous friends. Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how it all happened. I loved it. Yeah. And we've been we've been friends ever since. Now you know too much. Homie homies. You guys are on ten years now. Yeah. More than that. And I told her last week I was like, this is how you know you're really friends. I was like, Hey, I just want you to know. I've just been thinking about this. ⁓ if I ever find myself in a coma, here's a list of things that like I you can and cannot do. Wow. Just know that. She was like, No pictures. I said no. Do not take a fucking photo of me. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. What what can she do? There will be no facial. Brush my hair, brush your teeth. Make sure my nurses are brushing your teeth. Don't try to blow my veins out with a hundred different IVs. Like put a pick line in. Like, don't fuck don't fuck around. Don't crack my chest. Don't break my ribs. It was nothing. Just like it was nothing. No, no, no, no. No. It was very. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. My mom's an RN. ⁓ okay. So that's where it comes from. I know a lot of yeah. D I know too much. Don't you also watch a lot of true crime shows. I do. Yeah. So I can't. I had to take a step back from that. From true crime. Do you read true crime too? Not so much. I did for a little bit. Kind of went on a little, but it it's different. That's a different that's a different vibe. Because I think on a TV show, I can I can tell I'm go, this isn't real. And I can turn it off and then it's kind of done. A book, I'm like You're immersed. Somebody like wrote this down. Like don't know. Something about that makes it feel different, even when I know it's not. But yeah. I feel that. I totally feel that. Okay, so when when was it for you with books? Right. ⁓ I was a Harry Potter kid. Yeah. ⁓ Harry. ⁓ I'm I just understand I thought it was our romance book. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I mean. Okay. Harry Potter kid. Of course you didn't Harry Potter. I went on like a yeah, I went on like the classic millennial woman journey, which was like Harry Potter to Hunger Games to Divergent to Twilight. Like it's a it's a it's just like a pathway that needs to be studied. Yeah. Then it kind of like got into the selection and like the Red Queen, which is a kind of a Red Queen. It's like a romantic sort of vibe. Like and I I have never heard anyone else talk about the Red Queen. ⁓ fuck. Yeah. Wow. Well, there's some drama. It's a hot topic right now. Yeah. Well, there's a series that's new. Ripped it off. On Amazon or Tubi or something? No, no, no, no, no, no. Another series. Yeah. And you guys, it is like word for word, four B the same book. ⁓ that's sad. Yeah. Can you sue for that? Did you read it? ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Read yes and loved it and was like, wait, you've read series two. Did you read I read Powerless. I read Book One. And I literally go, I've read this before. Yeah. And didn't continue on. Now, did I identify in the moment that it was Red Queen? No. But I was reading going like I've I feel familiar. That's tough, especially in the romanticy space because they start so there's a lot of overlap. There's so much. Yeah. But then same thing with music. Same thing with music. There's almost so many cords. Yeah, exactly. But then Fifty Shades of Grey entered the chat. Okay. And I was I was in high school when this happened. Okay. ⁓ maybe in like the tenth grade. Yeah. I didn't read it until How old were you? I don't know. I guess you were in college. I think I was in college. I was senior in college when I read it. It was my I remember the apartment I was in. That was Yeah, I think I was in maybe the tenth or eleventh grade when the first book came out, maybe. That makes sense. I was late to the party for sure. Re read them and I was just like, this is mind was open. Twenty fifteen is when the first Fifty Shades of Grey. The book? Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I was a junior. Or the movie. No, the movie. ⁓ yeah. That has to be the movie. Yeah. I was like, that can't be right. Yeah. No. I was like, I already graduated college. Yeah. 'Cause I I was like, I think I read it like I was like, that can't be right. But anywho twenty eleven is when the first book came out. ⁓ okay. Okay. So I was ⁓ I was in college, then I was in like a sophomore. Doesn't matter. The point being I read it, I really loved it. But yeah, I grew up in like a very conservative nice, good. Very conservative part of the ⁓ I mean. Ways not whatnot. We did not like talk about sex at home. Like that was not something that we talked about. No. It's one thing about my childhood that and I grew up in a Catholic home ish. ⁓ 'cause we never went to church. ⁓ but I went to Catholic school until I was in sixth grade. But we never talked about sex. And it it is such a shame because now being my age, being a mom Especially of a daughter. It's like, damn, I would have had such a different outlook had it just been a normal thing that people do and not revolving and it's su it's yeah. Anyway, that's a different podcast episode. Sex is like a science thing that makes you feel good, makes you do fun things and gives you babies. And there's no part of religion that needs to be involved in that. However Well like the the concept Amanda brought this up to me the concept of like virginity. Yes. It's a con it it it doesn't it's not it's made scientific it's made up it doesn't matter. It just and the fact that it was anyway, I'm not gonna totally different, totally different context from what you're talking about. But it wasn't that was my whole childhood as yours. And it just would have been such a different outlook and view and I would have ⁓ been so much more confident. And being a woman, not to be whatever, being an attractive woman growing up, it would have been a different world. It was talked about, but it was just like bad. J it wasn't it was you only do that with your husband. Okay. Once you do it, yeah, that's very awesome. It's the greatest thing ever. But if you do it before then, you're probably gonna get pregnant. So don't do that. And and bad things were happening. It's like a Christian, like Presbyterian. ⁓ Got it. We didn't No, no. That's not Presbyterian. No, she just had a weird Christian school. I was just asking. There was weird ⁓ weird uniforms and the the the school that I went to was weirder than than the church that my family was a a part of. Got it. So I got like stranger advice. From my high school, honestly. The weirdest thing she ever experienced was was this in church? They brought in a like a twelve pack of cupcakes and the this was you, right? I don't Yes, and the pastor, whatever you called them, licked every cupcake and they said, Do you want to eat it now? Because That's the equivalent of you having sex with someone before marriage. Okay. ⁓ I'm sorry. It was something else. I love that. ⁓ I thought they like did I make it sexual? Probably. It was basic. It was like it was paper. It's like a heart. And like every time you you kissed or had sex with someone else who wasn't your husband, they would rip a little piece of your heart away. ⁓ wow. So you would end up with not a whole heart. by the time you married your husband. And I was like, well that's bleak. That's bleak. That's dark. And that's where I would have said, Well, I'm already in trouble, gang. So what do we do? What are we doing? Well, yes, right. Right. I thought through these people, I was like, mm-mm, because everyone was everything. Someone was cheating or someone was doing something they shouldn't have. And I was like, The call's coming from inside the house. Yeah. That's why I had my moment of my come to Jesus literally in sixth grade when I was asked to wait in the hall because I Would not stop asking questions. I will never forget. Exactly. Yep. I was the girl who always asked questions. And they were like, maybe you can wait in the hall for something. And I felt like I really did something bad, but I to this day I couldn't figure out what I did bad. You didn't. And I asked too many questions. I'll never forget that. But that's they don't want you to ask questions. You're just supposed to ask. And I remember from then on, I was like, I'm out. I'm so out. Right. She can't gang. Yeah. I was just very curious. We had a really weird incident happen with our church. Weird incident. It was it was horrifying. It was a a crime. our our preacher's son was arrested for child ⁓ pedophilia. Yes. Like ⁓ ooh. Abuse against a child. Ooh. How old? I don't remember. We don't need to know. I remember his name, but I don't remember like how. And I don't know that we knew who the victim was because she was a minor. Or they were a minor. I don't even know if it was a boy or a girl, to be honest with you, but it was a minor. And I want to say he was like in his early twenties or something. But he was always like the weird guy. And it was one of those like, nope, we knew. Like he wasn't one of those, like, ⁓ my God, no one ever suspected anything about him. No, he's a fucking Yeah, fucking know. That's like the And I remember when that happened and and our preacher then ended up having to, you know, leave step down. And I remember the day that they c the last like service that they did at church, like when he was there and he was having to kind of address that what had happened. And I was just like, ⁓ I I I wish I could remember how old I was when that happened. A little bit I mean I think I've always been pretty skeptical just in general. Same. I had a lot of ⁓ chaos growing up. ⁓ and so I think I've always been pretty s just like generally skeptical of like Mo everything of like ⁓ I don't know about that. Yeah. And so I think I had that a little bit about like religion and sexuality and stuff too. And so then when that happened, I was like, Huh. So if it could happen to the literal leader of our congregation's family, what stopped? Yeah. Quite literally anybody. Yeah. Anyway. But yeah. That's really interesting. I didn't grow up in a particularly religious household. So that was the you were a little more ⁓ But you're the one that's seventh grade reading Nora Roberts being like ⁓ lucky green. And my mom was like I mean it wasn't like I can I I sh sh ⁓ but I had a I'm an only child. I had a lot of freedom. Uh-huh. So I can remember like my mom worked She retired when I was in sixth grade. So like fifth and sixth grade, I read the bus home. I was like a latchkey kid while she was working. And so I had a lot of freedom, right? To like that was when the internet just started to be a thing. I can remember ordering books from Amazon when they were like just selling. Yeah. ⁓ so that's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. I was like ⁓ and I call myself an old soul. I was the one who was like Hey mom, can you drop me up at the Barnes and Noble on a Friday night? Like I'm gonna stay till they close. Amazing. Reading magazines and books. So to be fair, my mom and I just had this conversation. My mom and I just had this conversation the other day. I was like, We were talking in terms of someone else that we know and their teenage child who it's it's a bit of a wild child. And I was like, Man, you really had it easy. Like you really I mean, I know I could be a brat. Don't get me wrong. But for the most part, you were pretty easy. My sister and I say that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Parents said it so easy. Yeah, you guys were like golden children. We were golden children. And we didn't. And that's the part that like I wish I had I allowed myself to have more fun. My biggest regret of my entire life is I felt so ashamed of having fun in certain ways that now at 34 years old am being a mom. So I feel like I can officially say What a waste a part of my like teenage years were. Well, what do they what do they say the youth is wasted on the younger hundred percent. But see, and we had a di and and I would say I also had a lot of freedom, but in a very different way. But because I had a lot of responsibility with my freedom. I was the oldest. Uh-huh. So my mom had a lot of partners that were bad, just all bad. Okay. And ⁓ she's a horrible chooser. My mom's never gonna listen to this, so it doesn't matter. But she is a she also knows. She also knows she would never deny. Yes, yes, yes. So there's horrible, horrible p ⁓ my mom's been married like four times. Like we're okay. And she and is not currently married. Okay. But like I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. I have always been like the epitome oldest child, Capricorn, like I'm in charge. This is I My mom worked nights, so I was responsible for I had to make sure everybody was out of bed for school in the mornings because we had to do that before she got home from work. She did the overnight shifts. I slept at home with the with the kids overnight while my mom was at work. Like and I'm like fifteen, right? ⁓ my god. I drove everybody to school once I was able to drive. Like I took one of the siblings to school. It was just and then I went to my dad's house where I was a kid. I was a kid there. They were like, You're not Go in here and I'm like, bitch, I drove to hot springs in back yesterday. And my dad would be like, You did what? Yeah. So there was a lot of ⁓ two different different households. Okay. My dad, much more religious, much more conservative family. My mom kind of out of necessity had to be a little bit more liberal because I was my mom's partner. Yeah. ⁓ for all intents and purposes. What do you yeah, what do you What a wild ride for you. It was insane. It was like I said, very chaotic. Yeah. a lot of chaos all the time and ⁓ all three of my so I have all my siblings are t technically half siblings. Uhhuh. So when I was at my mom's house with my two half siblings there, y we all played sports. So everybody ⁓ had after school activities. Everybody played sports. We were all very good at sports too, which is kind of like another level of like softball and ⁓ basketball. ⁓ okay. And then my sister was ⁓ my youngest was a cheerleader, ⁓ very competitive, very good cheerleader. And then my middle sister was a Really, really, really good softball player and probably would have played in college. Wow. Okay. But ⁓ yeah, so we just had a very different, very, very different. So I am reading, I'm watching, I'm consuming whatever the fuck I wanted because there was nobody A, nobody there to tell me differently. And B, I would look at my mom and go, And what are you gonna do about it? Yeah. Because you're about to go to s you're about to go to work. And she'd be like, ⁓ I mean, I guess you're right. I also was an adult from the time I was probably four. Yeah, yeah. I was raised really adults. Mama, again, my mom was 21 when I was born. Right. And she and my dad got divorced pretty shortly thereafter. Yeah. So I, you know, where I'm a you know, pre-K and we're at Walmart the night before school starts, having to get school supplies because my mom forgot, and she'd be like, ⁓ and my mom, I and I'm in the cart, like, no, mom, I need that. And I'm on this. I've got to have I have To have snack and my snack day is tomorrow, you know. Yeah. So it was just very ⁓ there's a lot of chaos. Chaos. So different, different, different from Amanda's ⁓ divorced parent situation, I would say. Very but we got I think the benefit of both of us was that we did have a lot of freedom to consume. Like I watch their like we talk about this all the time. Like rated our movies. Okay. Like you watch that all yeah. Yeah. It just wasn't something that was like An option. Or it it wasn't it it just wasn't something that we were gonna fight about because why? A, she couldn't enforce it. And B You're gonna go to work anyway. Right oppressed right the second walk out of Well and I'm also a fucking adult. I took care of all three of your kids to probably you could to a certain extent. I'm like and that's why part of when people are like, ⁓ my god, are you gonna have kids? I'm like, Majority raised two. I was literally I was gonna say, is this a large part of why you don't want kids? ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't blame you. Or I had to. Yeah. And had to bury mom. Like it was just like I kind of want to do that again. Yeah. No. You know? So it wasn't. The second you have that baby, all you do is worry about what what happens if they're not here anymore. Yeah. For forever. Yeah. And it's ⁓ I don't know. I have that feeling about my siblings. Yeah. How could you? Right, wrong or indifferent. That is just and not so much about Parker, but it's you know. So that's a different It was it was different. But all that to say is I got comfortable because I was left alone and I was like, well, I can do whatever I want. That's so interesting. It's crazy. Like, what do you mean? No, you can't. But look at what you're look what you're serious. Because of it. Thanks. Yeah. But I was pretty fucking high note. Pretty fucking badass. No, that's not it's I I So fucking appreciate when people say thank you to a compliment instead of whoa. Thank you. Like we're constantly yelling at Jim to just say thank you when I tell you you look hot. Yeah. But because I'm incessant of like, ⁓ Jim, arms hook me up. But it's it's but it's very like I can't I it is not me. Like I I this is like a team, even before Amanda came on officially, officially and Every single thing I'd be like, Okay, do you like this? Like, do you hate this? What do you think about this? And what about this? But at some point I was like, I have to start paying you because this is crazy. Pause on that because I want to get into the business and then I wanna get into off campus and then We have to stop because this is gonna be a four hour longest podcast. I can't tell you how much I fucking love this. And this has given me so much life. But he could cut out all the populatry stuff at the beginning if we need to. No, it can be just multi-part. I was gonna say, would you listen to us yap about all of this? Because I would. Yeah. So like I love. I'm I'm thrilled about it. Anyway, we're not cutting any of it. You're the one that Came home slash was already at home. I forget if you were hybrid or remote or whatever, and said, Hey, Charlie, I'm your husband. I'm quitting my job. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go work at a wine and sandwich shop for a little bit. Yes. And I'm gonna figure it out. Yes. Katie, I fucking love I will never forget the day that I saw Trope Bookshop at Culture Shop. Uh-huh. Before you even like really launched. And I looked at Cooper and I said, That's fucking smart. And we were driving down Hawthorne. Yep. And I said, that is a fucking smart idea. And he was like, Wow, that's really cool. And he's like, he's in the no, but he's not in the no. Yeah. But wait, d he's gonna wear a trope item though. ⁓ he won't wear some trope merch. He wears them all the time. He wears all the time merch. Like it is nobody's business. He wears look love merch, he wears trope merch, he wears ⁓ support our partners and love Cooper. Cooper's the fucking best. Anyway, you're the one that said, by the way, I'm done. You're making six figures, no? ⁓ close to we ⁓ yeah, probably eighty. Okay. Yeah. Yeah and said I seventy five. Well many years ago too. Like Right. Right eighty a few years ago. Two, yeah. Twenty twenty one? Yes. Yes. No, no, no, no, twenty two. Twenty two. Okay. Well, eighty and twenty two. Sure. Probably like a hundred and thirty now. Right. Yeah. Inflation because it cost me ninety eight dollars to fill up my gas. Yeah, no, you know that's a little bit. Yeah, no, we were we were rocking. The Mitchells were doing like not to brag, but like as a kid who like you know, money was always a topic of conversation at our house. Yeah. And I was really fucking weird and still am a little bit about like money and stuff, but it was ⁓ What how what weird how? Like, are you worried you're all was gonna run out? Absolutely not. ⁓ No, I have it. I must spend it. Because I because I never had it. ⁓ Because I never had it. Okay. And Charlie goes the other. And Charlie is exactly opposite. He ne he didn't have together honestly. He's like, no, no, we can't. And I'm like, no, no, but but why are we like let's we could. That's hilarious. You guys are completely opposite. That's really good though. Yeah. Yeah. Literally. It helps both of you. Yeah, but we were doing really, really well. He was in like he was really cooking with his job. Like we were and I came home and he was like, ⁓ okay. Okay. She's quite to be fair, it had been a topic of conversation. You hadn't been happy doing what you were doing for quite some time. Yes, yes, hundred percent. Out of the blue. Yes. No. What I my point is you were the one that took the leap. And then everybody I forget who which friend of yours it was that said, Why don't you do a version of the cart in Central Park? Our friends are and you said, Wait, and then the next thing you know, you're refurbishing a bush ⁓ Books exactly right. That happened in like 12 hours. Sarah literally happened Sarah sent the Instagram post. Thank you. Yeah, Sarah sent the Instagram post. I think Sarah and I were together and saw it. Yeah, yeah. You were like, sure. What'd you say? Send that to Katie. And she was like, I'm gonna send this to Katie. I think this would be a good idea. And she said we had fallen in love with Book Talk. We had fallen in love with Avatar. Let's post 2020. And she was like, the next thing I know, she's texting me. She's I found a bus on Facebook Marketplace, I'm going to buy it. You're going to see it tomorrow. Yeah. Okay. And it was like $10,000. The guy redid it. Which is like loose terminology for what he did. Loose terms, but yes. But yeah, $10. I think, yeah, I think it was, I think it was $10. And then for the renovations, I think he charged me five. So I think it's like $15,000 or something like that. But you have to give yourself credit for doing it. And then what you built from there of being like, hey, so I suck at this. Can you help me and I will pay you? Like that that's a leader. Yeah, I I was not scared to ask for input and for help because I am this is something I say a lot. I have a very, very hard time being part of a bad plan. Like I can't if I think something is a bad plan, I'm like I can't. This is not no no, I can't. And I think that has a lot to do with, you know, my my upbringing of like, no, this is a bad idea. This is a bad idea, Mom. You shouldn't marry him. No, we shouldn't do this. No, we shouldn't go here. No, you shouldn't take that pill. No, you shouldn't do this. Like I just can't be part of a bad plan. Okay. Yeah. Everybody around me is so sick of hearing that, but I'm just like, it like it's who you are. Something happens in my body. Yeah. You've seen the negative side of when they do do it anyway. Sure. But I think I it makes me a little rigid sometimes too, of like I can't nonchalance go with the flow. Never met her. Like absolutely not. Absolutely not. So that makes it I I that makes me at times to be a tough partner. Okay. And a and a tough friend, I would probably guess to say. Because I'm Don't look at me on that. No, this is true. I just I I I know myself. Yeah. I'm like come I'm thirty five years old. I have come to terms with a lot. But I can be not not the not the easiest person to get along with. But But I'll never sit still. Like that is the that is the difference in our partnership. I'm very much a Taurus. Like I'm very like I'm comfortable where I am. Yeah. And Katie is always like, well, if things are too even keel, like we're doing something different. What do your signs mean together? Cause I know Sharice's and eyes and they're like the the Perfect match. Match. Yeah. We our pairing our pairing is very good. Yeah. I'm a Capricorn, she's a Taurus. Yeah. So we're both Earth signs. Yeah. But we are very complementary of each other most of the time. Yeah. Yeah. that's perfect. I'm the ideas go. Yeah, that works occasionally. She doesn't like that. I am like, ⁓ I have this idea. I start to get like an eye twitch. And I'm like, I have this idea. Hey, but like I'll send you something, Ala, this morning. We were talking about merch. And I'm like, hey, I I saw this on Pinterest. I really like it. She was like, done. But we're very, I would say what makes this. Yeah. I'm like ⁓ we're gonna do it. We did it yesterday. Like yeah, we're just we're going for it. And I'm very like, okay, how are we gonna do this? Yeah like where how are we paying And it's already been done. And then there'll be a couple of holes In the plan along the way. Sure holes. ⁓ we've The communicator of like, all right, so that didn't work, but we're gonna flip it. I think that is very I think you and I are very aligned in that way. I think you two are I think that's probably gonna be similar because I'll be like, No, I've already got the plan, here's what we're gonna do. And Amanda's like, Love it, love this plan. Except for slow it down. Well, or she'll go, But hey, ⁓ I I do think you've maybe forgot like this and this and all this. ⁓ yeah. And she's like, But don't worry, already did what it's fine, right? It's fine. But ⁓ it'll be fine. But yeah, that's and it always is. But I think where we are good is we are, I feel very in lockstep with like the vision. The vision of like what we want this to look like. Yeah. So Amanda, you came in at what point? I know you've always been there, but at what point is she like a paid employee? Where does that? As of January. ⁓ wow, this is recent. Yeah. So I took well, my intent was to fully leave my corporate job. Yeah. ⁓ Very fortunate, very blessed. I went to put in my notice to my CEO and said no, thank you. And I said, I don't think that's how that works. But we negotiated and and listen to we are still a small, very much a small business, right? Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ and I are you married? I am not. I'm single. You're single. Okay. I'm an only child. My mom lives here in Charlotte. My dad still lives in Richmond, where I grew up. And ⁓ I was like, well, the only piece of this that that Katie and I hadn't fully fleshed out would be healthcare. And as we know the world today, like healthcare big deal. Right. And when we were talking about like what the timeline was going to look like, the marketplace for healthcare was very uncertain and what the current administration was going to decide to do. And I was like, listen, I don't, I don't know. What this is gonna look like. ⁓ so right now I work a hybrid schedule and I'm very fortunate to do so. ⁓ and it's it's taken some adjustment for me too. How do you pal? Any type of change takes adjustment. And I'm very change adverse. Like my by nature, I am very change adverse. She likes a routine. I like, I like, I like to know what I'm doing. ⁓ wow, I like to be able to land. Yeah. Yeah. That's just not in my spirit. Okay. and I thrive a little more in the chaos. A hundred percent. We ground each other in that very she's very like Yes, I can see why this works. Yeah. 'Cause I'm like, wait a minute. What do you what do you mean? What wh where am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be doing? Like what time is it? And I like, I'll I'll just text you in the morning and tell you what time to And she's like, I need you to work. No. I'm like, well, that's an in the morning decision. Yeah. I'm like, what are you wearing tomorrow? We had this conversation yesterday. I'm like, what are you gonna wear? She was like, it's comfy casual. Yes. Yeah. And and we're used to because we film like for and we show up in the same thing all the time on flats. It does have to be a bit of a conversation. I was really nervous it was gonna be warm. I had on my blue striped shorts. We've shown up in the same place in the blue stripes box or shorts. Are guys normally comfy for Yes, and this is what we like normally. Yeah. Most of the time. Yes. We put on real pants when we're interviewing someone, but sometimes you work hard. Same. I was like, no makeup. No. Okay. But what was your job title coming on in January when you gave your notice to your corporate? ⁓ I am a I'm technically like a supervisor. I At H L I. Yes. To be clear. My corporate job. But when you were coming on to Director of Sales and E-Commerce. Okay. Katie was like, what do you want your title to be? I said, director of fun. I said absolutely not. I was like, that's I would like for it to be a bit of a like lily mat. Yeah. She was like, I do think though that we need to reimagine your title. Because I think you need to change e-commerce and no, I think she's probably. This is the first time you're hearing this, surprise. ⁓ ⁓ no, I think you probably well I think you probably're HR rep. You need to be like manager, like office manager or like store manager and then prob and then like e commerce. So just it's not really much of a change, but like something a little different. I director of operations and e commerce of like what she does most of the time. Merch. That's our e-commerce. Creative director commerce. Creative director. Brand strategist. Now that I can get on board with. Okay. That's a preparations and brand strategy. That sounds direct. Director. That does sound good. That sounds hot. That's how brand strategies when I run out of my business card total. That's fine, we can do that. That's good. Yeah, it's a lot of You can give them all to me. Now they're gone. Gone. Like new business cards. Sharice took all of my. Yeah, but Amanda works with us in the afternoons. Yeah. Yeah. She does her morning, her morning tip tap. Okay. And then she comes to us in the afternoons, or it's a lot of times she'll go to our office and d do stuff from there. She ships our online orders. What percentage is online? versus in store. ⁓ that's a great question. I don't know if we have a lot of debt very heavy in store. I mean we just launched like real shipping. And for, you know, the first two years we were open, I had to kind of beat it over the head everybody like, we don't ship, we don't ship. Now we do. And so I think we've trained our audience a little bit and now we have to untrain them a bit. And most of our online orders are not like local. They're six percent or something. Far form eight percent. It should be a lot more than it is. Wow, well where's most of your audience? Do you can you see like for the podcast logistics? I'm so curious. It's a lot of local because we talk about a lot of like Charlotte stuff opening and stuff too. It just sucks because like Charlotte's just like simply not New York where we can we could reach a million people in New York and talk about new restaurants and shit opening. ⁓ just not the not the the path for us. I think we have a lot of South Carolina, a lot of Georgia, a lot of Virginia, a lot of Virginia. Surprisingly, I feel like a lot of like New York, upstate New York. We do have a lot of upstate New Yorker. But that's Charlotte. That's where I write from in Ohio, I'm sure. We do have a lot of Pennsylvania. A lot of Ohio. And right now a lot of our online purchasing, with the exception of merch, which we don't have a ton up online right now, just 'cause we can't keep it in the stores. No humble break. ⁓ it's that's amazing. That's a different like pre orders. So Okay. We have we're very fortunate to be in the position where we have authors and publishers coming to us. ⁓ ca they come to Sydney typically since Sydney manals manages our events. ⁓ they come to her and say, Hey, we have this campaign with XYZ author. Yeah. Would you guys be interested in joining? And it might be like for example, with Kennedy Ryan, we were one of a handful of stores nationwide. Seven stores that got That's a big deal. That's that was a huge deal. Awesome. That made me Megan Quinn. And also not for nothing, I I don't know if you know much about Kennedy Ryan. She's a black author. Okay. All the stores that she selected were queer-owned or black owned. All of them were female owned. Straight 35-year-old. I know, but it that made me feel that was an exciting moment. You should be running out We're doing something right. Like we are being the proper allies for everyone else. And uplifting other people because we are privileged. Yeah. We are two white women who are, you know, live in a great neighborhood in a great city. And like we have so much privilege. And I I felt humbled and privileged to That's a really cool ass. That's a part of that. Yeah. We we you guys we got on that Zoom call and I was like, ⁓ my God, we are the And it was really funny. It was and it was really great. Like really nice to be very proud. Some very established bookstores. Yes. Yes. Romance bookstores specifically. We're very established. You're very established. But we're so like in terms of We're so really new though. We really are. Whatever in Brooklyn on there. Wait, can I can I tell you something? We just found out about two enormous authors that we are gonna get on their tour. Both of one of them is their opening, not their opening their published day. We got Sierra Simone. ⁓ just act excited. Act excited here because this is exactly the pinnacle author for you. I guess she's big. And then okay, be careful, don't say anything too indicative of who the next one is. Okay. We just found out quite literally yesterday that we got pen col. For her final book in her series. Wait. Yeah. Now we didn't get. That's a big deal. We didn't get pub day for her, but we got pub. Well, I guess technically the next week. We did, we did. But either way, we are huge. This is like huge for us. When did you hear this? Yesterday. ⁓ my God, you congratulations. Yeah. We like really real. I I don't, yeah. I called you this morning and I was like, okay, I think I'm ready to be excited about it. ⁓ and see, and this is this is funny because again, this is where we're so different. So yesterday I had the holy shit, holy shit, ⁓ my god, like whoop whoop whoop, like jumped up and down outside. Yeah now today I'm like, well, is it gonna happen? No, no, no, no. This is literally like when do we get Sarah Jones? Correct. Okay, that was immediately my reflection. Let me ask you though, what does that mean? Because I'm safe, I'm the same. I'm the same. She's I'm literally and I'm like, let's live. You're like, we should buy something. ⁓ my god, that I can get on board with. That I can get on board with. Let's go blow off the day and have brunch. Great, love it. Okay, but what does that mean? Like you got them? What does that mean? So that means that we they're going to come to Charlotte for an event. For an event. Which we have found out in through this process that Charlotte has been overlooked for a reason. since H B two. They no. Even before this. I think that's as a society. ⁓ but ⁓ there are some more established businesses in Charlotte that were not open to doing these kind of events. And so it it what? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It became Like the less you do, the less you're asked to do. Yeah. Because then it became well, there's not a market for this in Charlotte. They perpetuated a feeling that Charlotte doesn't have the market, doesn't have the readership, doesn't have the interest, n and they perpetuated that and we're saying the the place I just said to you. ⁓ we're telling the publishers that. So and that's who determines the book tours. And that is a huge part and we I think I knew that I wanted this to be part of it, but this is more of an unexpected piece of the puzzle that I I couldn't have anticipated. We have been incredibly knock on wood lucky and very successful with these events. And that has become a huge like pillar of our business model. And it's a very completely didn't anticipate. No. No, because I couldn't have even bottomed. I was she was a scout bus. Right. I can't. I mean, you guys, I have eight employees. What do you mean? Wow. Like, do you I can't my next question was like, do you like go to bed at night or even wake up whatever or have a glass of wine at night and think like what have what have I done? Like in good and bad ways. Every day. Yeah. Like every book club we do that. Every book club especially. Yeah. Hundred Talk about book club for a second, like what it is. Because you I didn't know until I went and I like, Wait, what's the You have been open for I don't know. You opened it in October and by January. I was like, hey, I think we need a book club. Yeah. I was like, when are we gonna hit And I was like, such a good idea. So we launched book club. You literally said to me, We can do a book club, but you're gonna have to do the lifting. Yeah, I know and I had to tell her that I said, That's fine. Happy to do book club. I said, but quite literally, I am it I am a one-woman show right now. I am doing the ordering, I'm doing the stocking, I'm doing the unpacking, I'm doing the pricing. I'm you still have to live your life. Drive the bus, I do the pop-up. Like I And that maximum. I will never forget the day that I like tracked you down. And I was like, this was this was around when we were starting and we were looking to book guests. And I was like, that trope girl is gonna be outside. Yeah. That trope girl is gonna be outside of undercurrent. I'm gonna go. Yeah. This was before I was pregnant. ⁓ I remember this. I remember when you came in. And I walked on and I was like, hey, like blah blah blah. And I'm talking, talking, talking. I said, my friend Lindsay Pazuti, this and that. And I said, you know. We have a podcast. I'd love to have you on. And you were like, ⁓ my God. Wait, really? And I was like, Yeah, like you can hold a conversation. Cause some people can't, as you guys know. Yeah. And I I'll never forget that. I called Sabrina. I was like, just book book this girl. She's awesome. She can hold a conversation. Like this idea is unreal, brilliant. I don't know how she's gonna do it with the margins, but I think she's gonna do it. And you have blown the city away. Thank you. That's really nice. The fur you made your whole, I'll never forget reading that tiny money article. You made your whole year's rent in opening weekend. That was so crazy. That's insane. That was crazy. I have a dear friend who lives in Raleigh. And when I was over there, she is very into books. I don't know how many books she reads a year, but she's like she has her own book, Instagram, and she was like, Sabrina, there's this new romance store, like romance bookstore that just opened in Charlotte. Have you heard of it? I was like, well, let me tell you. I'm already there. What what's her name? Christina Holfelder. And I cannot tell you what her Instagram name is. ⁓ my god. Well, she's a bookstagrammer. You need to connect her with us because we use, we like to use that that's that's not what I meant. Have them conversation with her. Yes, yes. Yes, and we like to have them come in and ⁓ be moderators for some of our author events. ⁓ she's loved that. She would love to I think she's is it a bit booked or am I thinking of It's not a bit booked. That's not her. I will send me her profile. Yeah. Send me her profile. Gladly. Yeah. But she was like, ⁓ my God. Yeah. You know her? Like just and I was like, Book Life Balance. Book Life Balance. Book Life Balance. You sound familiar. I wonder if she's like DM'd us before. She's reading Our Perfect Storm and she's listening to Fame Sick. ⁓ that's our girl. Love Fames. She's wonderful. I'll send this to you right now. Her husband. was the lead singer of the band that Jim was in in college. Got it. They're like dear friends. We love him. I love that. We will connect. Good. But yeah, you'll be just like fangir. I think about that every day. I do say that to myself s with some regularity of A, who let me do this? Right. Yeah. Who who lets me calculate the taxes, you guys? Okay. Taxes How no no it's so fucked up. No, it's crazy. Like, what do you mean you're relying on me to to do this? It's so confusing. It's purposefully confusing. Yeah. Well, right. So you get in trouble, I swear. So I'm and so you overpay. And I have never one time done this on the record. Never ever. I am I I do my things I'm supposed to do. However, I understand. How people out here committing tax fraud. Yes. On accident. First of all, it's too easy to do. Not even on accident. On purpose. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, just put in a different number. There's no no one's checking. They don't they don't look no one's checking till they're asking you for money. It's just so crazy. But yes, I think that all the time. It should be automated. And I was very truly very scared at the beginning of this year. because for T. No, no, no, no, thank God. No. Okay. Well, well, yes, but but no. But I was only scared in January. I'm always a little scared. But in January, I was I was very anxious. because Amanda was gonna join us part time. Right. She has a lifestyle that she needs to maintain. She has a certain dollar amount that she requires for her salary. Yes. Not until just like Yeah, we had had these conversations where I was like, listen, eventually if I step away, I I do have to have to make a certain amount. Yeah. But and those are hard conversations because you guys are best friends too. Yeah. You know what? That wasn't even that hard. I like that because I knew. She owns her own home. I'm not I'm not naive to what's going on. She likes her nice things. We like to go we like to travel. We like to go to nice dinners. Like how the fuck she's supposed to pay for that if I'm not paying her. Exactly. So ⁓ but Amanda, so we we kind of split the difference on how that all worked out. We just talked about that. But now I have but I have two employees that are full time. And I was That's terrifying. So scared. Yeah. I'm like, and now I have to because we had such a crazy year one. Uhhuh. I don't really like to talk about finances too much, but like we had an unbelievable first year and I was very incredibly incredibly proud. Like we broke a million dollars in revenue in our first year.