Mini-Ep 481: Weather Worry Vindication
Doree is justified in her weather worries and Elise discusses some potential weather-related travel interruptions. They also hear from listeners about shows to watch, exercises for during IVF, and some Trader Joe’s beauty recs.
Mentioned in this Episode
To leave a voicemail or text for a future episode, reach them at 781-591-0390. You can also email the podcast at forever35podcast@gmail.com.
Visit forever35podcast.com for links to everything they mention on the show or shopmyshelf.us/forever35.
Follow the podcast on Instagram (@Forever35Podcast) and join the Forever35 Patreon.
Sign up for the newsletter! At forever35podcast.com/newsletter.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Transcript
Doree Shafrir (00:10):
Hello and welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrir.
Elise Hu (00:17):
And I'm Elise Hu and we're just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums.
Doree Shafrir (00:21):
And this is a mini episode where we hear from you, we share your comments and your thoughts, and we answer your questions to the best of our ability. But please remember, we are podcast hosts. We are not experts, and we do always encourage you to seek support first and foremost from a medical and/or mental health professional as needed.
Elise Hu (00:39):
That is correct. By the time this comes out, I may or may not be flying to New York because there is a massive blizzard on the way.
Doree Shafrir (00:49):
Oh.
Elise Hu (00:49):
Oh dear. I might be coming back. I don't know. No,
Doree Shafrir (00:52):
I think you would be coming back.
Elise Hu (00:53):
Yes, I would be coming back and I don't know if I'm going to make it though right now because it looks like there's going to be several inches just like snow vomiting all over that area.
Doree Shafrir (01:04):
And weren't you also only going to go for a night?
Elise Hu (01:08):
Yeah, so maybe like 18 hours or something like that. Maybe not worth it. Maybe a little dangerous. Maybe a little unsafe.
Doree Shafrir (01:16):
Yeah. I feel like maybe not worth it. Look, I don't want to tell you what to do, but if I were you, I would be like, I'd rather not take the chance of getting stranded.
Elise Hu (01:29):
I wonder if I can game it somehow and get like a very good voucher from the airlines, but that's if people actually wanted to fly. And I'm guessing people don't want to fly. And so the supply and demand in this case does not benefit me.
Doree Shafrir (01:42):
Well, usually they allow you to make free changes when there's like a big storm coming. Now, I don't know if they let you make free changes like whenever or if it's like you have to make free changes within a certain amount of time. I kind of forget how they do it.
Elise Hu (02:00):
Yeah. And then the policies just get like more and more draconian. But anyway. Okay. Catch me up on you. Sorry. We just started the show and I'm already off on a tangent. What's happening? How was your week?
Doree Shafrir (02:14):
Well, it's funny you bring up weather because on Monday, last Monday, which was President's Day, Henry was doing a one day camp and it was like an outdoor camp, like a hiking camp that he's done many times before. But the weather prediction for Monday was last Monday was quite bad here in Los Angeles. It was like a lot of rain, possible tornadoes, thunderstorms. And I emailed the camp and I was just like, "Hey, what's the plan if things get really bad outside? Do you have an alternate indoor location?" And the co-owner was like really condescending and was kind of like, "I have looked like you're not looking at the exact microclimate weather report for the exact area that I chose to send the kids to. And it's probably best if you just keep him home because I don't want you to worry."
Elise Hu (03:19):
Wow.
Doree Shafrir (03:20):
They really didn't want
Elise Hu (03:21):
Their expertise questioned.
Doree Shafrir (03:23):
Yeah. It was like very strange. It was a very strange response. And then Matt was like, "I think you're overreacting. It's probably going to be fine." And I was just like, there was like one more back and forth and then I was like, "Okay." He really wanted to go. He was excited to go on the rain. And so I was like, "Okay, I'll send him." But it was clear she would have just rather had me keep him home because she didn't want me to be annoying. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I'm like, all right. So we send him, I got in this rain suit. He's all prepared. And I get a call at like, I don't know, 11:00 from the counselor and she's like, "Henry's really cold. He wants to go home." And she's like, "Can I put him on with you? " And I talked, I was like, "Can I bring you a sweatshirt and some warmer clothes and maybe you'll stay?" And he was like, "Okay." So I asked the counselor to drop a pin and I drive to this location in Alysian Park, like way up a hill and I'm driving there and I get a thunderstorm, I get a flash flood warning as I'm driving up.
(04:39)
And I'm like ... Also, this road was like flooding. Already as you were driving. Already, yes. As I'm driving, I'm like, "Huh, this doesn't seem good." And I get up there and there's other parents picking up kids. All the kids are huddled under this picnic area, covered picnic area. Everyone's freezing, kids are crying. Some kids are sort of trying to do this coloring activity. All the counselors are standing around like, "What are we supposed to do? " And then I see Henry and he comes running over. He's like, "I want to go home." And I was like, "We're getting out of
Elise Hu (05:12):
Here." This sounds like, but also crucially, you get to say, "I told you so.
Doree Shafrir (05:19):
" Well, big time because then we drive home. It was like scary driving home. And I emailed her when I got home and I was just like, "Look, this doesn't reflect well on your organization." I described the scene and there was a flash flood warning. And again, she was kind of like, "Yeah, I was up there handing out sweatshirts. I guess I missed you. " Yeah, you must have just gotten there at the exact bad moment or something like that. And then she called me and I was like, "I don't even want to engage with this person." I was just like, "This is weird. Also, they clearly have no emergency protocols." And then yesterday she sent out an email to everyone who had been at the camp totally walking it back and apologizing. "This never should have happened. Now we know for the future I'm giving you all a credit.
(06:14)
"And I was like, " Yeah, you fucked up.
Elise Hu (06:17):
"Thank you so much. Yes. You get
Doree Shafrir (06:20):
The mic drop
Elise Hu (06:21):
Here.
Doree Shafrir (06:21):
Exactly. And I sent the screen grab of the email to Matt and he was like, " This might be the most like I told you so right you've ever been.
Elise Hu (06:33):
"Oh, so satisfying.
Doree Shafrir (06:35):
It was very satisfying. I realized that was a long tail, but I was like ... It needed to build up. It
Elise Hu (06:41):
Needed the exposition.
Doree Shafrir (06:42):
Yeah, this interaction is strange and also clearly I was not the only parent to be like-
Elise Hu (06:49):
Clearly not. Yeah. She was probably ... Now in retrospect, the reason why she was condescending to you was probably because you were the 14th email that she received. It wasn't just you, clearly.
Doree Shafrir (07:01):
I think initially I was one of the only emails she had received. She seemed really sort of like whatever, but I suspect because parents showed up there to pick up their kids and saw what was happening, there was no way she could be like, " Well, it actually wasn't that bad because it actually was that bad. "So that was that.
Elise Hu (07:28):
Wow,
Doree Shafrir (07:29):
Wow. Yeah. It also took her three days to send the follow-up emails. So I was like, " How many people complained until she was like, Oh, I guess I fucked up. "I
Elise Hu (07:40):
Need to do a maya culpa. Yeah.
Doree Shafrir (07:43):
Exactly. But I get it. There were probably 40 or 50 kids there. If she had canceled, that's a big hit. So I understand the impulse not to do it, but I also was like ...
Elise Hu (08:03):
Not wise, not wise.
Doree Shafrir (08:05):
Not wise. So anyway, I feel like sometimes I get painted as a little bit of a worry wart, especially when it comes to weather and natural disasters. But I just want to say that I was the first one in my family to really raise the alarm about COVID and everyone laughed at me.
Elise Hu (08:21):
You've been
Doree Shafrir (08:22):
Validating. And I was proven right. Yes, exactly. Thank you, Elise.
Elise Hu (08:26):
Hey man, I got you.
Doree Shafrir (08:29):
So that's what's going on with me.
Elise Hu (08:32):
That's a big week. It's a big week. You should feel good. I feel you should feel satisfied.
Doree Shafrir (08:37):
Thank you. Thank you so much. Before we take a break, we did get a text for you that said, Oh my God, Elise, you have to watch Andor pausing the pod to say it is truly one of the most important television shows of our decade.
Elise Hu (08:53):
I wholeheartedly agree. I wholeheartedly agree. I'm like almost done with the first season already. I took
Doree Shafrir (09:00):
Almost
Elise Hu (09:01):
An entire day last weekend to just binge it because it is about an anti-fascist resistance. I mean, why? There is no more important thing to watch right now than a show about an anti-fascist resistance. And it's written by the great Tony Gilroy, which I've talked about before because he wrote Michael Clayton, which is a film that's in my letter boxed. If I had to pick my four films for a desert island, Michael Clayton would be one of them. And I think Michael Clayton is also such an important film about who America, who we are in America or just in the Western world and just how much corporate power exists
(09:40)
And how there's fixers among us everywhere. And as it turns out from the Epstein files, we know that to be the case. So Tony Gilroy and his whole framing of our moment and our problems and the prescription for it, he ended up being able to put all of that and channel that all into the Star Wars universe, which I care not that much about. But I am partnered with somebody who, for his birthday, I gave Rob a chance to tell me the entire story of Star Wars, A New Hope, the original one, and just speak about it for 25 minutes. And that was my gift to him.
Doree Shafrir (10:17):
And he
Elise Hu (10:18):
Felt great.
Doree Shafrir (10:19):
That was really generous. That
Elise Hu (10:20):
Was
Doree Shafrir (10:20):
Really generous of you.
Elise Hu (10:22):
Anyway, Andor is fantastic. It doesn't have the force or anything, but it has some really cute robot or robots that show up and yeah, really am enjoying it. Thank you, listener.
Doree Shafrir (10:35):
Great tip. Just a reminder that you can call or text us at 781-591-0390. You can email us at forever35podcast@gmail.com. Our website is forever35podcast.com. We have links there to everything we mention on the show. Follow us on Instagram at Forever35podcast. Our newsletter is on our Patreon now at patreon.com/forever35 where you also get our casual chats, our monthly pop culture episodes, get ad-free episodes. There's so much going on on our Patreon and you can shop our favorite products at shopmy.us/forever35. And after the break, we have a little decluttering chat and some IVF convos. Great. We'll be
Elise Hu (11:18):
Right back.
Doree Shafrir (11:26):
All right. We are back. We got this text that said, every time Dore mentions decluttering, I just think it can't be that bad. Don't clean up for the six-year-olds. Every time Elise talks about the dog eating something, I say, "Thank God I don't have a puppy."This is very generous of you to say it can't be that bad, but please trust me when I say it was that bad and part of the house continues to be that bad. I was shredding mail from 2023.
(11:59)
It was bad. There was stuff just, I mean, every nook and cranny was like, it was just very bad. My good friend Mallory, who gets great satisfaction in like before and after decluttering pictures is so annoyed with me because I didn't take a before picture. But what I did do for her is I took a video of my office and our bedroom, which is like the next sort of like big project I have to do and narrated like all the piles and she was like, "Oh, thank you so much for sending that. " I mean, look, it's pretty bad. I will say it's pretty bad. So I appreciate the generous interpretation, but I think it is inaccurate. And it's not cleaning up for the six year olds, it's cleaning up for their parents. Their parents are coming over. These are drop off play dates. Oh,
Elise Hu (13:05):
It's not a drop off.
Doree Shafrir (13:06):
Okay. No. I have to entertain these moms for two hours. And the house is not going to be obsessively clean either, but I want to get it to a state where I'm not like mortified the second they walk in the door. You know what
Elise Hu (13:24):
I mean?
Doree Shafrir (13:25):
Which I think is reasonable.
Elise Hu (13:26):
The most cleaning I ever did or do is before I have a ton of people over, because I just have to clear stuff out. But I also think it's a great opportunity to clean too. That's a good excuse. I always try and have people over at like good clips because then I'm like, "Great, I'll get rid of some stuff." The piled up since the last time I had people over.
Doree Shafrir (13:45):
That's also why I used to ... There was a period in my life where I moved every year or two and that is also like a great opportunity to get rid of stuff.
Elise Hu (13:57):
Yep.
Doree Shafrir (13:58):
Absolutely. I haven't moved in a long time, so here we are.
Elise Hu (14:03):
Here we are.
Doree Shafrir (14:04):
Elise, do you have any Oscar updates since this listener brought up Oscar?
Elise Hu (14:10):
I don't. I mean,
Doree Shafrir (14:11):
He- Oh, that's good.
Elise Hu (14:12):
He's still
Doree Shafrir (14:12):
With us. No news is good news. No news is good news. Oh my gosh.
Elise Hu (14:19):
His wound is healing nicely. His incision is healing nicely. Yes.
Doree Shafrir (14:24):
Okay.
Elise Hu (14:24):
I'm glad you heard that. I'm really glad as well.
Doree Shafrir (14:28):
Yikes. Okay. Do you want to read this next text that we got?
Elise Hu (14:36):
Sure. I just wanted to send some well wishes to the listener doing IVF. Dori's podcast truly prepared me for the realities of it all that weren't discussed with my doctor. So thank you for that amazing resource. I didn't hear if the listener had a partner also going through the journey, but our clinic recommended couples counseling during the process and it really supported our communication. There are also so many emotions that it was so nice to have someone mediate us through it. Also, a friend purchased the IVF WTF coloring book for me, and it was the humor I needed on the tough days. Best of luck. So we will link to that in the show notes. And yes, we are also thinking of you. Listener.
Doree Shafrir (15:16):
I kind of love that their clinic suggested couples therapy.That's pretty cool that they did that. Okay. Next text. Hi, Dorian Elise. Writing into the listener who is asking for advice about IVF. I am currently in my first round and had my egg retrieval yesterday. I am a dance teacher and choreographer, so not being able to exercise or teach normally during this process has been extremely challenging. What has helped is that one of my friends is a fitness instructor for Pvolve. A few years ago, her team put together an online movement during fertility treatment exercise series with a reproductive endocrinologist/IVF specialist. The program is broken down into each week of the egg STEM cycle and has classes for some gentle strength training and stretching that is safe to do during this time. This was helpful for me because it showed me the types of movements I could still do safely while teaching dance.
(16:25)
To be honest though, I didn't really feel like doing much "exercising due to the bloating and fatigue, but it was nice to still incorporate some movement beyond walking. Being post-retrieval, I have one more week or so where I still can't do much, but I'm definitely going to keep referring back to Pvolve's program as my ovaries shrink back down. Wishing you all the best on your IVF journey. You got this. " XO.
Elise Hu (16:52):
Those are really great actionable tips.
Doree Shafrir (16:54):
I love that they have a week by week workout program.That's cool. I will say this reminds ... I had forgotten about this, but this reminds me that I didn't realize that you're not supposed to work out, I think, until you get your period after the egg retrieval. So you usually have at least another week or two post retrieval. For my first cycle, I was like, "Okay, just got to get through the egg retrieval." And then they were like, "Oh no, you got to wait another week or two." So that was an unpleasant surprise, but-
Elise Hu (17:39):
Yeah. Especially for this listener who is so used to moving all the time.
Doree Shafrir (17:43):
Yes, exactly. If
Elise Hu (17:43):
I had a break from working out for two weeks, I'd be like, "Yes," because I don't enjoy it. My body does not crave it. I'm just like, "Oh, here I am having to do this. " But maybe it's like grass is always greener on the other side because I have the privilege of getting to work out. You know what I mean?
Doree Shafrir (18:02):
You have the choice. You have the choice. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I echo this listener's sentiments. You got this. Good luck and we are rooting for you. Yeah. All right. We are going to take another little break and when we come back, we have some chatter about electric pianos and a product recommendation. So we'll be right back.
Elise Hu (18:33):
We'll be right back.
Doree Shafrir (18:41):
Okay. We are back. Elise, do you want to read this?
Elise Hu (18:47):
Sure. Dorie, would you be willing to share the type of electric piano you have? My five-year-old son started taking piano lessons, which means I'm taking piano lessons in order to help him practice. We don't have the money or space for a full-size piano, but should probably invest in something. Thank you for your suggestion.
Doree Shafrir (19:04):
So I bought my piano, my digital piano pre- COVID, so I've had it for a long time. I couldn't tell what the model number is. It's probably under the piano, but it's not immediately apparent. It is a Roland. I think it is the RP107, which is one of their sort of base digital piano models that still has pedals and weighted keys and all the things you sort of want in a digital piano that distinguish it from just a keyboard. And when I bought it, I want to say we got it at Guitar Center. I want to say it was around $1,000, but again, this was pre- COVID and I looked it up and now it's $1,300.
Elise Hu (19:52):
Man, pianos are expensive. If my piano didn't have sentimental value, I would sell it for money.
Doree Shafrir (19:59):
Pianos
Elise Hu (20:00):
Were so expensive.
Doree Shafrir (20:02):
Non-digital pianos are hard to sell because people have to have them professionally moved.
Elise Hu (20:09):
Oh yeah, that too.
Doree Shafrir (20:10):
So this is the digital piano that I have. And yeah, it doesn't take up that much space, but it has the full 88 keys, which is nice. Okay. Last note that we got. Prod rec. Trader Joe's nighttime moisturizer in the glass pot. As someone in California, it seems to hit the sweet spot of a thicker, more luxurious cream without being greasy or leaving a residue. Maybe not sufficient for the East Coast winter, but could be a layer in a more intense routine, but I just picked it up last week and have really been enjoying the experience of applying it and feeling moisturized while not sticky in the morning. Got to love TJ's.
Elise Hu (20:55):
Have you seen this product? I haven't seen it. We use one of their lotions, but it's just in a pump bottle.
Doree Shafrir (21:01):
I have not seen it, but there is another new Trader Joe's product that I've seen a lot of people raving about.
Elise Hu (21:12):
What's that?
Doree Shafrir (21:13):
The ultra rich body wash oil.
Elise Hu (21:16):
Oh, you know I like body oils.
Doree Shafrir (21:20):
It's a body wash though. You use it in the shower. And I guess it has a vanilla orchid scent and it's 5.99. And I guess it's like sold out everywhere because people are obsessed with it.
Elise Hu (21:36):
Wow.
Doree Shafrir (21:38):
That's just what I've seen and heard.
Elise Hu (21:41):
The other thing that's going to be gone really quick, and I'll just mention that it has arrived and I saw some, but even the people at Trader Joe's were like, "This is going to be gone in a week." Is their pistachio gelato? Their pistachio gelato is back and it's like back briefly and it's solid. It's a
Doree Shafrir (21:57):
Limited
Elise Hu (21:58):
Time
Doree Shafrir (21:58):
Situation.
Elise Hu (22:00):
So
Doree Shafrir (22:00):
Even by the time this
Elise Hu (22:01):
Comes out, I don't know if it's still going to be there, but you guys can look. Check
Doree Shafrir (22:04):
It out. All right. Hot tip. Okay. Well, Elise, great to see you. Listeners, thanks so much for joining us today. And please do call and write in with your questions, comments, concerns, product recommendations. We love them all. We'll talk to you soon.
Elise Hu (22:22):
All right.
Doree Shafrir (22:23):
Bye.
Elise Hu (22:23):
Talk to you next time.