Glitter, Grit, and Growth: A "Hey, Girl" Story

Caroline Downing shares her journey of navigating life in Washington, D.C., including her experiences with roommates, her whirlwind marriage and divorce, and the lessons she's learned along the way.

Caroline's openness about the challenges she faced in her marriage and the aftermath of her divorce is both heartbreaking and empowering. She reflects on the societal pressures she felt to settle down, as well as the importance of being true to oneself and not compromising on what one deserves in a relationship. Caroline's story serves as a powerful reminder that sometimes the most difficult experiences can lead to the greatest personal growth.

Throughout the conversation, Caroline's passion for Taylor Swift's music and her creative divorce photo shoot showcases her resilience and ability to find joy and self-expression even during difficult times. Our discussion of the potential impact of a Taylor Swift endorsement for Kamala Harris further highlights Caroline's engagement with current events and her willingness to use her voice to make a difference.

Born and raised in DC, Caroline has always been drawn to storytelling—though the dream of becoming a documentary filmmaker faded when she realized it wasn't exactly lucrative. She's got a fun idea for a novel (or maybe a memoir) brewing. After earning her business degree from Catholic University and quitting what she once thought was her dream job, Caroline now finds herself working in HR for a well-known restaurant—though she's keeping the name under wraps for now.

twitter/instagram/tiktok: @ thecarolove

the website: https://thecarolove.com/

Transcript

Kristen Daukas: 0:00

Kristen daukas, welcome to Conversations on the rocks, the podcast where the drink is strong and the stories are stronger. I'm your host, Kristen daukas, and this isn't your average chat fest. Here, real people spill the tea alongside their favorite drinks, from the hilarious to the heart wrenching, each episode a wild card. You'll laugh, you may cry, but you'll definitely learn something new. So grab whatever, what's your whistle and buckle up. It's time to dive into the raw, the real and the ridiculously human. Let's get this chat party started. Hey everybody. It's Kristen daukas, and you are listening to the latest episode of conversations on the rocks podcast, the show that's like your favorite drink, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a whole lot of unexpected twists. And this is my second, or, I'm sorry, my 123, fourth, fourth interview with actually, we are cheating a little bit here. And Caroline, who is my guest today, is a millennial. She is not a Gen Z or zillennial. One of my guests was a zillennial, but she said that she favored more towards the millennial side, but you're on the millennial side, and that's okay. We accept you too. Caroline, tell us a little bit about yourself, and thank you so much for saying yes, yeah.

Unknown: 1:19

Thank you so much for having me. So I am Caroline. I am a millennial, solidly a millennial. I just turned 35 I was born and raised in DC, and I recently got my graduate degree from Catholic University in business with concentration in HR. So that's what I'm doing now. I also left what I thought was going to be my dream job earlier this spring and started a whole new career. So it's been definitely an adventure. It's been kind of a crazy summer. One of my other things about me is that I have a blog that I started in 2014 and it has grown and evolved, but that is where most of my friends have come from, is from blogging and Instagramming and even Twitter. So it's funny. It's like, you you hear growing up, or I did, you know, don't make friends from the internet, and all my friends are from either where I work or the internet. So although it's kind of fun, but I just, I love telling stories, and so when I had the opportunity to jump on the podcast. Wanted to take it Yay. So

Kristen Daukas: 2:23

it's so funny that you opened with that because I had, I'm a social media expert. I better be. I've been doing it for 15 years, and back in the day when Twitter was fun, I met a huge group of women, so much that, in fact, that a lot of us are still very close friends. And I started this for the ones of us that were local, a little thing called broads who tweet the BWT. So our hashtag was BWT, and we would do meetups and tweet ups, and we did a couple of retreats that was so much fun. And it was just people would be like, it's so funny. Like my girl, one of my close friend's team, when we go out, they're like, Oh, how'd you guys meet? She's like, Twitter. And people are like, nah. We're like, Aha. So it's, it's such a fun way, and just it's, I liken it to, and this is probably not in your age span, but way back in the day, in the very beginning of the interwebs, when, you know there were chat rooms. And really chat rooms were, yeah, and you know, we had our own little, you know, you had your own little secret code, pos parents on the shoulder,

Unknown: 3:33

yep, no, and I was too young to be in chat rooms. But

Kristen Daukas: 3:37

were you there? Were you breaking the rules? But yeah, I started my blog, no go.

Unknown: 3:45

Oh, AOL, had, uh, kids only chat rooms, so I used to, like, log on and I'd be like, eight years old in chat rooms, which I don't think my parents knew anything about it, but it was just like, oh, this is so cool. I can, like, talk to people, talk to strangers. I was like, a weird little kid, so it was like, I'm gonna make friends.

Kristen Daukas: 4:02

And your your 35 year old self now is like, oh my god, I'm so lucky.

Unknown: 4:08

Can you imagine you've been kidnapped? Yeah,

Kristen Daukas: 4:12

I'm telling you. I'm telling you right now I agree with you, kind of like me being, you know, a Gen X or as a latch key kid. I'm like, How I Survived there. I saw a meme a couple of a couple of weeks ago, and I wish I'd saved it. It was like, it talking about Gen X. It's like it said something to the again, of our parents weren't trying to kill us, but they weren't trying to stop it either. You guys were latchkey kids too.

Unknown: 4:35

Yeah, we had Au Pairs until I was in fifth grade, and then we just were like, We don't want them. So we were we had a carpool situation, so we would come home after school for a couple hours, and like our carpool would just drop us off, and we'd get into fistfights about who could use computer first. But we'd never burned the house down, so I guess you know no worse for the wear there,

Kristen Daukas: 4:57

and if you didn't burn it down with dial up. You were pretty good. It was never going to be the toaster was going to be dial up internet. My kids never had to hear that sound. Creative Space.

Unknown: 5:12

Yeah, I started so my blog actually started 2014 it was called Little bitty city one, and it was kind of about me finding my voice working in the city at the time, I still lived at home. And then I kind of, I rebranded it into the Carol love when I was a few years after that, and it became more of just like sharing my style more than anything else. I just I tell people now that I treat my blog like a paper doll. I just find things that I like and put them together and share. You know, what's making me happy? It's a lot of a lot of dresses and sneakers. I will put it that way, like that is my style, but that's it's what I've been

Kristen Daukas: 5:55

sharing. Spoilers. There's a lot, there's a lot, there's also a lot of glitter, which I like and love glitter. I was, I was totally stalking you today, and I was like, Oh, look at all that glitter.

Unknown: 6:06

Yeah, very glitter, very pink. I've leaned into being a girly girl, and that actually started when I worked with Mackenzie, because working at Mission, I didn't really have that much of a dress code. And I was like, Oh, I went from a financial advisory firm where it was like, pretty business casual to like, oh, I can wear bright colors, and I can wear, like, fun little skirts, and I can wear sneakers to work, you know, as long as we were basically appropriately covered up and could move in what we were wearing. So went right back to what I was doing in kindergarten, wearing shorts under the skirts because I was more comfortable that way, but I'd be like, moving furniture in in skirts and sneakers. But that is that really kind of helped me find my style again, not having to dress for a financial advisory firm, and now with a job I have, we very specifically do not have a dress code. So there was someone in the office today in shorts, which I thought was interesting. You know, work appropriate, but still, it's just like, oh, we really don't have a dress code here. Well,

Kristen Daukas: 7:06

and if you're still in hospitality, you can't,

Unknown: 7:10

yeah, so I'm more in the corporate side. I it's, it's actually in an office. But I think because we do work with chefs, we do work with people in restaurants. It's like, if you're in a restaurant, if you're working in a restaurant, it's like, no ripped jeans, like it's and wear the branded shirt. But we very much let people express their individuality. Our founder usually is wearing joggers and Gucci sneakers, which cracks me up.

Kristen Daukas: 7:38

Yes, I'm familiar. I'm familiar. I love it. So tell me a little bit about your life. How long, how long have you been in DC proper,

Unknown: 7:52

DC proper, on and off for 10 years. So I moved into DC when I was 24 I had I really lucked out. I found my roommate actually on Craigslist, which, I mean, that could have gone very differently, but I met Megan on Craigslist. We have this place in Georgetown, which was insane. Rent was less than $1,000 a month to live in Georgetown. Her boyfriend moved in with us, and I, like, adored him too, like, I've been to their baby's first birthday party. We're still friends. And then we actually were bought out of our apartment. They gutted it, renovated it, tripled the rent. But at the time, it was great, because I was moving in with my then fiance, which we're getting to, like, the the meat of it, yeah, so my fiance and I moved out, and then we lived in Glover Park for another two years, until I got divorced and moved home, and then covid hit, and I moved back to DC in 2021 and it has been a journey, and it's funny because I actually moved back to the same complex, different building, different street, but I moved back to The same complex I lived in with my ex husband.

Kristen Daukas: 9:03

All right, so there's a lot to unpack there. And I How long were you married?

Unknown: 9:09

We were only married for about a year, but everything happened very fast. So we met March of 2016 engaged, April 2017 married in April of 2018 separated in the summer of 2019 so everything was like, very, very, very fast. So

Kristen Daukas: 9:30

35 year old Caroline looking back on that, what mistakes or what? And I hate using the word mistakes, but I'm going to use it for this, not for this, but just for the purpose of what, what happened? Because that's fast, even for your age, that's that's or, actually, let me rephrase that, even for old people, that's fast. Yeah,

Unknown: 9:52

so while I was getting divorced, so this is kind of jumping the gun a little bit. I I'm not saying

Kristen Daukas: 9:57

I don't need, I don't need dirty I don't need. The dirty, nitty, ditty, gritty details. But you know, you met, you got engaged, you got married, you got divorced. Like, no,

Unknown: 10:07

um, well, when I was kind of going through it all, I realized that, like, basically, I married the first guy to ask me, and it just seemed too good to be true at the time. Like, within a couple months of us dating, he bought me a new Mac because my computer died. And I was like, Oh, this guy can take care of me. Like, that's a good sign he was military. And there's kind of that like, joke about, like, Oh, everybody, like, moves quickly in the military. It's not a joke. It really happens. And he did a really good job of kind of fooling everybody into us thinking that he was a completely different person than he was, and I also was completely settling, to be completely honest. Like it was just like, Okay, this guy wants to marry me. I guess I'll marry him. It kind of turns into that, like, Oh, this guy is giving me attention. That's nice. Like, you know, if he if we want to move this forward, like, let's move it forward like, this works. This will be fine. And it just there were red flags that I totally ignored, and yeah, just not a great situation, and I hid a lot of stuff that was going on from my parents, from my friends. Of

Kristen Daukas: 11:16

course you did. Why do you think you were in such You said it yourself that he was the first guy that asked you, do you feel like you So, what were you 25 at that time?

Unknown: 11:26

I just had turned 26 when we met. Yeah. So, mid 20s. Okay,

Kristen Daukas: 11:32

so, did you feel pressure? Did you feel like you were getting pressure from your family, from your friends, from society? As I told you before, I'm a huge societal pressure on girls to be in relationships is a huge soapbox of mine, because I think it's ridiculous, and I think it's very unhealthy for our young ladies. Yeah. I mean, the thing women, period, young girl, yeah, yeah. The

Unknown: 11:56

thing that's weird is that, like, I was so happy being, like, the third, fifth, seventh, wheel. Like, when my friends would go out in groups, like, I never mind it. If there was a restaurant I want to go to, I would like, I had a group of people that I would just be like, Hey, I made us reservations. Like, let's go. I didn't even really mind being single. But I think more than you know, my parents or my friends pressuring me, it was more just like I grew up watching Disney movies and rom coms and, you know, Reese Witherspoon movies where it's like, okay, happy ending. Like, everybody gets here, happy ending. I was just kind of looking for mine. I

Kristen Daukas: 12:31

see it a lot in the south, right? And, you know, it's the if you're not married by 25 you're an old maid, right? And it just, there's the one thing I've always told my girls is, like, I want you to get I want whether you get married or not. You know, I want you to be happy, if that, but you've got to be happy with yourself first. I always go through that. I said, but your 20s, like, go, your 20s are to, like, go and like, do the things and not have to worry about anything or anyone. It's like that's when it is time for you to live your life. Because should you choose to settle down at some point you're gonna have a lot you got the rest of your life, if all things work out. Well, was it hard to come to the realization? And I'm sure it didn't take very long, because once those vows are said, I've said a couple of times that, I think a lot of times young ladies, especially now, are more interested in the wedding than the marriage. And not not just ladies. I think the guys are too. I think they're more interested in the wedding than they are the actual marriage itself. Because once those party favors are done and once the thank you cards have been written, and you're into three months into what are we going to have for dinner? Did you pick up the cat litter? Did you do that? You're all of a sudden like, Oh, this is not as sexy as all that other stuff. Yeah.

Unknown: 13:49

Well, I kind of lucked out. And I'll say I lucked out in that he was on a business trip for a couple of months. So he worked for a startup that was opening in Arizona. So he was out in Arizona, and I got a message from a girl in Arizona, and I called a hey girl message. I was like, just to let you know your I didn't know that you existed, but your husband and I had been having an affair, and I wanted you to know as soon as I found out. And honestly, to this day, I say, God bless Haley from Arizona, because she was kind of the catalyst for me to realize that I had not been treated well and that I didn't think things were going to change and they were just getting worse. And so honestly, God bless Hailey from Arizona. So I do say that I really love yay Haley. Like the fact that I was gonna say she had a lot of balls to tell me that, and I I first didn't believe her. I was like, oh, you know, I think you might be confused. And then she went on to tell me about one of his tattoos in detail. And I was like, Okay, well, probably the same guy, and I actually called him. Him,

Kristen Daukas: 15:00

I had a question about Haley. Was he having the affair with Haley? Yeah. Oh, he was so Haley was just like, you are not gonna two time, both of us good for her. Well, not good for her. I mean, you know, I never see here's the thing. I never blame the other woman. I never do. People are always like that. You fill in the blank word you want to use for that harlot that this that other, and I'm like, Honey, it ain't, I mean, she didn't just walk up to him and go, Hey, you're married. Let's have a let's, let's, let's have an affair. You know, I am sure the onus was on him.

Unknown: 15:39

Yeah. And I called him that day, and I said, Who's Haley? And he goes, I think you know. And I said, Okay, Megan and I are going to a concert tonight. Do not call me. Do not text me. We will talk about this when I get home, but I'm going to the Maren Morin concert, leave me Maren Morris concert, leave me alone. Do

Kristen Daukas: 15:58

you think he even cared? I know that sounds really harsh, but people like that, and just I've known people like that, and I don't want to just say guys or men. I know people that they're just like, All right, next, next. And I don't mean to make it sound so callous, but

Unknown: 16:16

I think he cared that he got caught because I was the one taking care of him. My family was taking care of us. I think he was kind of in like an OH SHIT kind of moment where he realized he just messed up good thing he had going on, because he had me in the palm of his hand, and he had my parents believing that he was a great guy, and everything just came crashing down and it was his fault, Kitty, yeah,

Kristen Daukas: 16:44

I babysit for those of you, not for for those of you that are not watching. There's a cat in the in the scene right now, black cat, yeah, and kind of ominous with this conversation that we're having, yeah. So yay for Haley. And I would love for you to sit here and tell me that now you guys are BFFs, but I'm sure that's

Unknown: 17:05

not the case. No, we've never so we spoke again, one other time when I had a friend who's a lawyer being like, get a copy of their text thread. And I was like, hey, Haley, so sorry to drag you back into this. Would you mind? And she said, I was waiting for you to ask me up. Held on to all of them, and she sent me all of the screenshots.

Kristen Daukas: 17:21

That's amazing. That's amazing. Wow. So Well, I'm sorry that that happened to you, in a way, but I'm glad, like you said, I'm glad that you found out sooner rather than later. I remember a couple that I knew when we lived in Pennsylvania, a lot, you know, 20 some years ago, and they, he the guy, called off the divorce, right? Or no, I'm sorry. They got married and then divorced within like 90 days. And I remember somebody saying to her, and I have said this to other people, not to trivial, trivialize, trivialize it. But it's like, it's better to find out in the beginning, when all you're having to do is split furniture and not kids. Yes, 100%

Unknown: 18:04

and he actually, when we were engaged, was trying to get me to have kids with him before we were married. And I'm kind of wondering what his angle was now, but I'm so glad there are no kids in the mix that would have been so much harder. Permanence,

Kristen Daukas: 18:19

that's what his angle was permanence, because he knew he was going to be a shit. You're probably right. Yeah, he did. I mean, because those kind of people are like that, and they don't change.

Unknown: 18:33

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Kristen Daukas: 19:03

What's your outlook on with relationships now in your mid 30s? Um,

Unknown: 19:08

I've had a couple of relationships since then, and it's almost like with every single one. And I think this is probably the same for everybody. I've just learned. I've learned like what I will and won't accept. I've learned what makes me sad or angry from people I'm a lot better at voicing that, like, Hey, you did this thing. I didn't like it. I didn't like your tone. Don't take that tone with me. Or I didn't like how you didn't take my feelings seriously. And I also have found that, like, the more honest I am, the more receptive these men are. So I think it's just I'm looking at the whole thing is just a learning experience. But certainly not going to jump into getting married to anybody quickly. Again, I would like to, but just definitely get, want to take my time with it. Now I

Kristen Daukas: 19:55

have a thought that just completely smoked out of my head, speaking of. Relationships, and I'm glad that you're still open to it, because I've had this conversation with Mackenzie when she and I chatted a few weeks ago. It's, you know, we're not meant to be alone. However, it is much better to be happy and alone than together with somebody and be miserable. And it does change your perspective when you go through that, but it also kind of makes you a little bit more. Do you think it makes you a little kinder? Oh, I know what I was gonna say. So I sometimes feel, and I have to say, this is a woman thing, that there's a lot of bad behavior in men nowadays, and I find what I observe and through, you know, the brief time, you know, the little bit of time that I was back in the dating pool, which I am grateful that I didn't have to spend too many years in that, because it's awful. It's crazy, especially down here, but especially with your age group. And, you know, those 20 in your 20s and 30s, and there's a lot of bad behavior, and I have to say, it's because women are not holding these men up to a higher standard. They're letting them get away with stuff, which, if you are with somebody and that's what you want to do, that's your prerogative. But if you're, if it's a casual dating thing, and now, you know, Anne Marie is Dayton Ben and or going out with Ben and Ben's, you know, doing crappy things, and then you meet up with Ben, and now you've got to deal with it, because Anne Marie put up with it. Ben thinks it's okay. What's your take on that? I

Unknown: 21:35

do think that we need to be better about holding men accountable. 100% I have found that I I've gotten better at holding them accountable. I was with someone relatively seriously for about two years, and I just was not getting what I needed from our relationship. I was like, you we had very different, different schedules, which was part of it, but I finally was just like, This is not what I deserve. And he was like, You're right. And I was like, Okay, well, I'm glad you recognize it, you know, whether or not it actually went through his head, who knows? But it was just like,

Kristen Daukas: 22:09

you're right, but you're not gonna get it from me exactly,

Unknown: 22:12

exactly. And you know, it's just he was not treating our relationship like it was an adult relationship, and that's what I'm looking for. So I think the older I get, like, the less I care about bothering someone or upsetting someone, because it's like, Hey, this is what I need. I'm an adult. You're an adult. Can you give it to me? Yes or no, if not, thank you. Next, so that's I definitely am trying to hold men more accountable for, you know how they act. I've been on dates where people have talked to me in a way that I don't like, and I'm just like, No, this is not gonna work. I will never see you again. See yourself out. Thank you. I It's just, I'm it's like, are you I'm not playing games anymore. That's really what it comes down to. I'm not playing games anymore.

Kristen Daukas: 22:56

It's exhausting. It's absolutely exhausting. And you go, Wait a minute. I was doing this crap when I was in high school, like in the beginning of college, I'm 35 and for me, I was like, I am 50, and this is some BS. I'm not, you know, at my age, even you know, not that I'm single anymore, but just looking at some of my friends that are, and it's a running joke, but it's not that at our age, like the midlife, post divorce dating. It's like they're look men are looking for a nurse or a purse. I mean, they don't want to be single. They don't want to be alone. They've had and they want a wife. And I'm like, I want a wife who wouldn't want a wife who wouldn't want somebody to take care of them, do their laundry. Do they I want a wife

Unknown: 23:43

Exactly? Yeah. And like, my parents have been together for, okay, I'm 3536 years. So, I mean, they have a system that works for them. And, you know, my mom is, is a wife, like she is, like, a great wife. She's always worked, but like, she like has a way. She wants a house to look. She wants, you know, things a certain way. But my dad, bless his heart, will do his best to get it to where she wants it to be, like he and it's funny. So like the running joke my mom and I have, my dad makes a bed every single morning, every single morning, he puts the pillows upside down there. It's like a bird pattern. The birds are upside down every morning. But my mom is like, he's there making the bed. I'm not gonna complain. I will just turn the pillows around, because that is my problem, that I'm annoyed by it not his, and he's doing his right?

Kristen Daukas: 24:37

Don is better than perfect, as one of my mottos, exactly,

Unknown: 24:41

exactly. So my mom is, my dad gets that done, and then my mom makes it perfect. And that works for them.

Kristen Daukas: 24:48

It works for them. It does. And, you know, that's what long, long term, really, it's about, you know, compromising and empathy and, you know, accepting each other where you are. I think that's a big lesson that you. Learn. You know, as you get a little bit older, is, and I try to teach the you have to meet people where they are. You can't say, I need you to be here. And they're like, I'm not there. You're like, Well, then why aren't you? So it's, that's so cute. What it? Oh, my light just went off. So what else? What do you? What else do you? I mean, but going back to the whole Men Behaving Badly, thing, I hear some stories, you know, because McKenzie likes to talk, she's a chatter she's a chatterbox. She'll tell me some of the stories of some of I know. She tells me some of the stories that she tells me about, some of the circle that I'm just like, Why? Why did these girls put up with this? And it just, I'm just amazed by it, because you go, there's 7 billion people in this world. That person who is cheating on you is not the last person that you're ever going to meet. And so I just, I don't get it, and they're all of you are so talented and so beautiful and just so, you know, just great human beings that I just, it makes me sad when I hear stories like that, that the ones that are willingly staying with someone who is stepping out on them,

Unknown: 26:08

yeah, I don't get it like for me with Kent. You know, I'm just gonna say Kendall, my ex. I didn't think that things were bad enough to leave, and so then when I found out he cheated on me, I was like, Okay, now they're maybe bad enough. And I think that the biggest thing that I realized is things don't have to be the worst to be bad enough to leave. It could just be that you're not compatible. It could be that you're looking for different things. It could be that you have different communication styles. If it's not working for you, you don't have to force it. You don't have to wait for someone to step out on you, or, you know, God forbid, hate you. It can be bad enough that it just isn't working for your relationship.

Kristen Daukas: 26:50

And it doesn't even have to be considered bad if you just, I mean, it just, if this is not working for you, if this doesn't bring you joy and it doesn't make you happy it's and that's the other thing that kills me. Is everyone you know, you'll talk to people and I'm like, What do you think about that? Like, oh, it'll be fine when we get married. No, it won't. If you're annoyed by the fact he leaves a plate in the sink. Now, wait till you get married and it's going to be an if he made dinner that ish is going to be all over the kitchen. It does not get better. It gets worse, then that's what I mean by, everybody wants the wedding and nobody wants the marriage. Yeah,

Unknown: 27:25

and I've said that to my friends that are younger too. I'm like, if you're this, like, concerned about getting engaged, or if you're like, not sure you want to marry this person, you don't have to marry them. You don't have to break up with them right now, but like, you don't have to get into that legally binding commitment, like you can just if it's not working, it's not going to be made better once you're in a contract, absolutely, matter

Kristen Daukas: 27:49

of fact, it's just going to intensify by 10. I'm glad you got out of that. I'm glad you're happy. And what I hate that it happened the way it did, but it happened the way it was supposed to, is the way I always look at it, right? And it was meant to be that way. So let's talk about something fun. Am I correct? Am I correct in remembering you're a big Swifty? I

Unknown: 28:08

am? Yes, I have my taylor swift water bottle right here. One of my best friends got this For there are three of us. So I have the light pink one. She has a hot pink one, and the third one has the light blue one. I'm a huge, huge huge Taylor Swift Fan.

Kristen Daukas: 28:21

So did you go to any of her shows for eras? Did? Yes, I

Unknown: 28:26

was at Houston night two, and I have seen it on the video on Disney, plus, like, probably five times at this point. Like I, I'm a giant Taylor Swift Fan. In fact, I so I got divorced during covid, and I'd wanted to have a divorce party, and that kind of went out the window. So I did. The window. So I did Taylor Swift theme divorce photo shoot.

Kristen Daukas: 28:46

I love it. Are there pictures of that on your blog? Actually,

Unknown: 28:50

there are, yeah, I can go and find the link and I can send that to you, but yes, I

Kristen Daukas: 28:56

Yes, or I can dig for it. Yeah, I'm trying to remember I love that. That's great. I love the divorce parties and the wedding dress burning parties. Those are great. I love that. That's such a great way of freedom. Well, where I was really going with this? Because I love Taylor, Joe. I didn't get to go to see her show because I can't justify that kind of money. But I have so many friends that went to Europe this summer, and they were like, having these amazing adventures. I had one that went to Germany, one that went to France, and another one that went to Austria, Australia. No, it wasn't, wasn't the Austria shows that just got canceled. Yeah, that was a horrible thing. Yeah, Amsterdam, Amsterdam. That was the end. That was the other one. And just had these huge, huge times. But after watching the show on Disney, I was like, you know, I really should have remortgaged my house and gone.

Unknown: 29:47

I actually lucked out because, yeah, my my friend who lives in Texas, was like, can you get to Texas in two weeks to go see Taylor Swift? Tickets already paid for? And I was like, Well, I will be getting to Texas for. In two weeks, and I wore my wedding dress, actually, to the Taylor Swift concert. So my Taylor Swift dress now,

Kristen Daukas: 30:11

get more use out of that. I don't know where you stand politically, and this is really not that piece of it. However, I'm Have you started to hear the rumors that? Well, first of all, are you going to join in on the if you're a Kamala fan, the big Swifties for Kamala zoom call.

Unknown: 30:30

I have not heard of that, but that sounds like so much fun,

Kristen Daukas: 30:37

and I only caught the headlines over the past 24 hours. So there's that, there's the zoom the Swifties for Kamala. But rumor has it, she's gonna show up next week in Chicago. Oh,

Unknown: 30:51

oh, that could be, that could be huge, honestly, a Taylor Swift's endorsement, huge.

Kristen Daukas: 30:58

Yes, ma'am, and it will if all of these Brad's Chads and dads lost their shit over her being at every every Kansas City Chiefs football. Can you imagine their heads are going to explain they're going to look like those little voodoo dolls. They're the bodies are this big and their heads are like this. They are going to lose their minds. Because you and I both know that her content, that her core audience, they're going to listen to her, but she's not going to be like Kid Rock who goes out there and just blows steam out of his you know, she is going to be very thoughtful. I mean, you know, if you you obviously watched, you know, her documentary. I mean, she was very upfront with her dad. She's like, No, I cannot not say something about this man. I mean, she's not, she, they. People just don't give her enough credit for how intelligent she is in that she can move literal mountains.

Unknown: 31:59

Yeah, no, I'm, honestly, I am all for a Taylor Swift endorsement. So actually, there was a rumor that had already happened. Somebody screenshotted something from a concert, and they were like, she's endorsing Kamala. Because it was a, like a silhouette of someone in a pantsuit, and it was one of her dancers from the man segment, like guys. She hasn't endorsed anybody yet. I just thought that was funny. Just kind of looking for

Kristen Daukas: 32:24

that to calm down exactly, exactly need to calm down. Yeah, so you'll when we get done, we're almost, we're almost, we're gonna wrap up here in a couple of minutes. But, yeah, you have to go look at that. But I just saw that here over the past 24 hours. So you know, if there's rumors already circulating, and obviously, you know, that's the side that she sits on, but that's gonna be a big game changer. And you know, I don't know what JD Vance is going to say about those childless cat ladies at this point.

Unknown: 32:56

I mean, I very much am a childless cat lady. I'm actually catless cat lady. This one is a rover I babysit on rover I don't have my own. But yes, childless cat ladies for Kamala, we're gonna own it.

Kristen Daukas: 33:13

Listen like, like I told laughing with Mackenzie on her episode. I was like, I don't know, she seems to be doing pretty well in my book. Yeah, be a childless cat lady,

Unknown: 33:22

exactly.

Kristen Daukas: 33:24

Caroline. It has been such a delight chatting with you, and I appreciate your openness and your honesty in talking with us about, you know, what was probably a pretty tough time in your life. But I you know, it's, it's interesting to hear how mature you handled that, and you know how it made you grow. And I know you're gonna do great things. And you know, even if you end up being a childless cat lady, you're gonna be a happy, childless cat.

Unknown: 33:52

I am. Thank you so much for having me, and I'll dig up those Taylor Swift divorce pictures.

Kristen Daukas: 33:59

Yeah, absolutely Hold on one second. So all right, everybody, it's time to say goodbye until next time. May your cups be full, your mind be open and your heart full of kindness, because we are all battling something. Take care and talk to you later. As the saying goes, you don't have to go home, but you can stay here. And that's a wrap for this week's episode. A big thanks to my guests for sharing their story and to you for listening. Don't forget to share the show with your friends and spread the words and if you'd like to be a guest on the show, the link is in the show notes till next time. Cheers. You.