Guest: Annette Reitano

Welcome to At My Kitchen Table where I’m joined this week by my friend and Snap-streak partner in crime, Annette Reitano!  Annette is a creative in her core and she nurtures that part of herself both professionally and personally.  She joins me to talk about the importance of creativity and allowing yourself space to play in managing your body's stress response.  She also chats about how her parents used her love of theater as a motivational tool for school, how the messy middle is where you grow, mortality awareness syndrome, and why she's chosen to make her creative content free.   Come give her a listen!

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to At My Kitchen Table, where I'm joined this week by my former client, turned very dear friend, Annette Raitano. Annette joins me to talk about the importance of creativity and allowing yourself the space to play. She also chats about how her parents used her love of theater as a motivational tool for school, how the messy middle is where we grow, how mortality awareness syndrome, and why she wants to leave a legacy of play and joy and giving your body stress response a break. Come give her a listen. All right, so you took a picture of us.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

I took a picture.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I was like, oh no, is she recording for content right now? I do this podcast video free. Right.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

I brushed my hair just in case.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

I know I always joke, I'm like, this face is made for audio. So we're gonna keep it audio only. That's funny. So you were recording this morning?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yeah, I was doing a tutorial. So I think I had this conversation with you that content is everywhere and content is free. So there's no, I you know, and I'm not a seller, like I don't want to sell things. So I just woke up one day and realized I could give away all of my content because the unique thing that I bring is not the content, it is myself. It's my energy, it's my desire to motivate people. And so I was gonna give away content. And so I started recording tutorials and you know, coming up with all of those things with the hopes that over time the level of enjoyment that people get out of it will just drive traffic. Right. And I'll, you know, I don't want to take money from people that motivating, but I don't mind taking money from the entities that are making billions of dollars on the game, right?

unknown 1:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

So I I love it. I love that this is like sort of the chatter we were starting with because I think all the things that we're talking about today are actually going to get us back to this space that you've now created for yourself, which is totally awesome. So before I ask you to introduce yourself, just for the the teabags, the listeners, uh, we're chatting with my friend Annette today. And the sort of the topics we're gonna touch on, it's not specific to one thing, right? It is really about your endeavors in crafting and in theater and sort of the importance around having creative outlets and I think sort of sidebar keeping community theater alive and and well. And so yeah, I'm I'm super excited to dive into those things with you today. So yeah, for the listener, uh could you just give like a brief introduction of yourself?

unknown 2:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So my name is Annette Raytano. I feel like I'm in a conference room. I know for trade uh and you know, for for work, day job. Um, I'm a marketer uh and I understand with with deep clarity that everybody needs to be communicated to with something different in whatever moment they're in. So that's kind of like the professional space that I come from. Um, but personally, I'm a creative who believes that trying things is really more important than perfection. So what I try and do in work and in personal life is inspire people to reach beyond what they expect by tapping into their creative energy because people will take work very seriously and they'll be like, I have to work. I I mean the truth is you have to work hard, but you have to play all the time to get energy and excitement out of the things that you're doing. You spend a lot of hours at work. If you're not having fun, uh you're wasting your life. Yeah, you spend a lot, you have a lot of free time, even though people say I don't have any free time, it's how you elect to use your time. You have a lot of free time, and if you're not having fun with that, you're not doing it right. So I'm I'm kind of like the friend who says, try it. Try it. If it's messy, we'll figure it out, no matter what it is. Like, and and so that that creative energy, uh, for a long time, even when I was a young kid, I studied creativity. I couldn't understand how some people could write a song or write a book that made it that resonated so much with people that it made them cry. I couldn't, I couldn't figure out like how you could sit in a show and be transformed or or or you know, moved to a different space, how you could be in a show and be a different person. And so I did a lot of reading. I was trying to figure out if you could unlock creativity in people, you could give them endless opportunity for themselves. Yeah. And so while we talk a lot about community theater, because you know, you know, I'm deeply involved in theater and crafting, and you on the receiving end of I test a thing and I mail it to your house.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

It's true. I love being the test case.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

I'm gonna put Karen's name on this, I say. I have so many cool things from you testing things. I love it. But but the point is just doing that rewires your brain, and people go, I don't have time to do it, and I don't have that, but you don't you don't take you're not taking care of yourself, you're not taking care of the way your brain processes stress. And this is what I learned over time studying creativity. You're not, and so it became more important to me over my life. Now that I'm kind of at the end of a career and I have different time for myself, it became more important to me to show people how to unlock what they have. Yeah, and so community theater is a great example of that. There are community theaters everywhere, and they all exist for different reasons and have different philosophies for why they exist. But why I participate is because of the power it has to unlock people's confidence to help them be creative, which then rewires their brains to handle stress better, which then makes them, you know, more empathetic and energetic around the people that they're with. Like it's not a moment in a show, it is the impact, the lifelong impact that participating has that ties me to theater. And then now to a more um formalized creative space to try and do that online. I've always taught, you know, artistic things, but it means so much. And I think it means more now than ever because our bodies are not wired to take the stress and to live in a constant fight or flight or freeze mode, the way the environment has us doing today.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Ever since COVID.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Right? Ever since COVID, we we were not ready for that. Our bodies weren't physiologically ready to handle that stress.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

And we need outlets now more than ever. And I feel super compelled to just try and give people outlets.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yeah. And I think all of that is awesome. I a couple of things that I wanted to just make sure that we highlight is the fact that number one, like I just want to be you when I grow up. All the things that you're saying are things that I think I've been feeling for such a long time. And it was sort of the impetus for this self-imposed sabbatical that I have been, you know, taking. I think I was very much in the space that you described, which is you're pushing and pushing and pushing, it's the grind, it's all those things work-related. And how I prioritized my time outside of that was probably not effective for me to handle stress. And so I have 100% been spending this last year digging in the dirt and growing things and jarring and canning and creating a podcast and all of these things that I felt I think stifled all, you know, for too many years. And it's just really been some time of exploration. So I 100% relate to that aspect of it. And then the other thing that I want to make sure that I say out loud is that I've known Annette for my goodness now, probably since what 2016? 2016. Yeah, so like 10 years. And Annette was a former client. So I met her through work, and again, part of part of that grind. And we had we stayed friends and stayed connected, largely because of stuff outside of work. It is because of the creative things that you do and how fascinated I have been with some of those things. And so um, I've actually gotten to visit Annette in her home, and it is ironic that part of our chat today is about community theater because you you live in Schuylerville, New York, which is which is sort of tangentious to Hamilton Hamilton. It ties it all together in a really nice little bow. So where were you born and raised, though? Because you were not born and raised in Schuylerville, New York.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

No, so I so I was born in um Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I grew up in Levittown, I went to Penn State for college, I moved here like anybody would really make a big move, you know, for for a guy, essentially at the time. Yes, did the whole, got married, and and had a baby. And it was again in that moment, um, in that time of my life, because while it was kind of everything that everybody talks about, and it's the where you get to, right? You get married, you have a child, da da da. It didn't feel like it was branded to feel. It wasn't like we were skipping around holding hands and going to the park and doing all these things. It was a baby that demanded time and it was it was high demand. And I wasn't having adult conversations and I wasn't being creative and really had about postpartum depression. Yeah that in that time my grandfather would say, You're so, you're so creative, you're so creative, you're so crafty. I didn't see it. I didn't, I couldn't find it. And when I look back now, wow, there were some things I could have done that unlocked creativity at that time that would have helped. But that gives me empathy today to look at somebody and say, I know you feel like you don't have time, but why don't you just spend 10, 20 minutes with me and we'll make a thing and I'll send you home with a t-shirt that has a curse word in the front where it's like it's creative too, you know, and that's hilarious. Totally. Then when my grandfather died when Nathan was three, um, I went to an AC Moore store. Um, well, first of all, well, there's so many things to tell you. I went to an AC Moore store and I was checking out with like a couple of things, and I was so depressed. I had a baby in a in a in a stroller, and he was three. I had a baby in a stroller, maybe two. And the lady at the cash register said, You're buying an awful lot of stuff. She goes, Why don't you take a paint class and see what that's like? Some random lady at AC Moore at the cash register. And I was like, Yeah, all right, fine. I don't even know why I said, Yeah, all right, fine. I signed up for it because it was only $20, but it was like a way to get out of the house. And from that paint class, I became a certified paint teacher. I taught classes for seven years. I would stay home with my son all day and raise him as a young child. And then when my husband came home, that my husband at the time came home, he would stay with my son, and then I would go teach at night. And that was because my grandfather told me I was creative. My grandfather had died. Some woman brought up creativity and it made me feel connected to something that I remembered. Yeah. Um, and and that was really how it was awakened. Yeah. Because I did theater in high school and I did theater in college, and I did music, and I was in a band, and like I did all these things, but it gets buried by all the things that we're doing. And I can see people getting buried by work, and I can see people get married by, you know, building a family or whatever it is. But COVID made it so obvious that people were buried in their own stress. I started buying things because no one else, what were we doing? We were doing nothing else. We were spending money on nothing else. I started buying heat presses, we started trying to find ways to get theater online, like do digital stuff. It was just it, it, it again was a lifeline for me to get back to not wasting my time.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Yeah. Which I think is so critical because so much of what I'm hearing you say has to do with timing. And sometimes the timing has to be right. And so, whatever that was that made you feel connected, you didn't have it five years prior, right? It happened when it happened because timing is is just sort of key and critical. And when we talk about COVID, I think COVID for you know another generation or two is going to be this line of demarcation of timing as well, where some of us really sat back and took a look at like what are we even doing? Like it it really sort of shined a light on maybe how we were processing like our work and our lives and that balance between the two. I know it's such a trite thing to talk about work-life balance, but it is really important to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Yeah, you you just you just use the term timing, which is kind of a a an like an ambiguous, not a touchable thing. Right. But there is a physiological component that is also kind of what you would feel is timing. I felt like the time is right. That physiological component is your nervous system can only take so much stress. And when you fill it all the way to the top, that's not timing, that's physically your body saying, I need another outlet. Yeah, and you can feel it in lack of energy and you know, uh clinically being diagnosed as either depressed or you know, whatever it is. And that's physiological, like you can touch that. It touches your it makes your body feel painful and unreactive and and all those things. Yeah. So so timing is also an awareness of how much of your physical body is is not able to take any more in. Yeah. And every time I sit and do a project that literally like takes an eraser to some of the parts of my body that can't take any more stress and gives it more room for this for for the compound, because it's going to. I'm gonna get more, you know. I mean, this the story of life is you know, sad things and and and crazy, unpredictable stuff, and and things you didn't even know you were taking on. Yeah, watching like just watching the news, and all of a sudden now you're feeling bad for everybody. Every yeah, and that's a lot to take on. That's a lot. You know, our bodies were never really built to take that on, or they were just built to survive. Run if you run if a predator's coming after you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Right. Your fight of flight was actually meant to be used way differently than we end up using it now.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, yeah. Now now we're using it. We're actually not even using it, it's using us, it's taking control over us. So when I felt I love that, when I started doing it, I started feeling taking a control back over on like I'm not gonna freeze today. I want to. All right, maybe I'll freeze today and I'll do something tomorrow. Sometimes I give my myself permission to freeze. What we don't do often enough is give ourselves permission to play, permission to have fun. And we think that's not good.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah, and it's actually or that it's not productive. There's we don't put value on it. Yeah, I agree. I agree. But there's the most value in it. Uh totally. Yeah. So let's go back in time a little bit. Uh, you said you you were in theater in high school. Was that the earliest that you got involved in theater?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

That was that was the earliest. It I loved it, and it's so funny because there were so there's pieces about it that I even look back and I go, I don't that taught me something. So I used to love theater. All of my friends who weren't gonna get to listen to this were in theater with me, and we did, you know, summer stocks and and the shows and things like that. But at the same time, I loved it so much that my parents used it as a tool. Like if in a semester my grades went down, they'd be like, Well, if you get a C, you're not you're not allowed to be in the show. Yeah, so it was all so performance as well as creative outlets was all woven together in the way other people treated creativity and maybe even used it as like power over, and it might be less important than learning. I don't know, it's part of learning now. Like I view that differently now, right? So, you know, people, at least at that time in my life, used it differently. They used it as like that's a nice to have, not a must-have. Right. I now am at a stage in my life where it is a must-have. Right. And I understand that it's a must-have. Um, and I try to I really do try to educate people that I try to show them the process, not just the the highlights, right? Just not like the the great production or the great end piece. It is the process, that process that got me there in high school. And I I didn't really know it. I learned it very early, but I didn't know it in high school. So I hated that it got leveraged, and sometimes I missed the show because my grades went down and all of that. Um, but yes, did it early on, did it, did some in college, and then you know, left college and thought you had to leave a lot of things behind. So left theater behind probably for about five or six years, and left just some things and just tried to work on what I was supposed to work on. Yeah, in airport. That's the thing. Everybody get, you know, gives you like this path that is not real, it's not a straight line, it's not a textbook. Like you can literally do anything. You can have I've had some of the best jobs that you could ever have and still did a show in the middle of it, you know, and uh, and it's just you're not you're not you're not tied to any any course of action, right? Um, but I try there were brief times in my life where I was less creative, not less creative, less play creative, because I'm always work creative because I work in that marketing space, but you have to make room to work creatively by playing creatively, and so you can't do one without the other. You need to you need to feed, it's like getting fuel for your car. Yeah, you have to constantly you have to play in a creative space in order to carry it into work. And creative could be a spreadsheet for you, but but the way you look at numbers is totally different. I, you know, I glaze over, says the banker. Like I'm working, I glaze over when I see numbers, but there's a there's a creative person around me somewhere who's gonna who's gonna tell the story out of those numbers for me so that I can create a different creative story around it. Yeah, um, I think all things stem from from that creative, and it can be messy in the middle, right? You start, you have an idea, it gets really messy, and you go, Oh, why can't I even start this? But in the end, it rewires your brain and teaches you things you never expected to find out about yourself, about creative people that you've met, and what they're creative with. Everybody's creative with different things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

So you did some theater in college and then you left college and obviously were working. And what did you major in? Was it just marketing and communications or thrilling?

SPEAKER_01 19:36

No. No. Um, I marketed in quantitative business analysis, which is essentially which flies in the face of what you just said about numbers. Right, exactly. It it does. It was it was my life's torture. But market, so marketing was really competitive when I was at Penn State and you had to have a certain GPA, and I didn't have it, and they didn't give me a marketing degree. I left Penn State, went into marketing, but I had a quantitative business analysis degree. The amazing part is I would not change that degree now for the world because what that degree focused on was the customer behavior and the analytics around why people do things.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

And so I think what I know about marketing intuitively, even though it would have been great to have a marketing degree, having that analytics degree about why people are doing things and what numbers tell you has paid off tremendously to tremendously in my life.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

But yeah, so yeah, I had a QBA degree. I don't even know if they have QBA degrees anymore.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

I'm not sure. You're the first person I've ever met who has it.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Thank you. I know too. I know too. Me and and one of my best friends, he's and he works in finance, so he's the numbers and and I am not colors and glitter, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

So so then what was it for you after you had been working, you know, for a few years? What was the thing that sparked you to go back to theater within your community?

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Um, so my mom kept saying, You should go, you should find a theater, you should find a theater because I maybe I'm over dramatic. I don't know. Maybe she just thought I needed an outlet for some of the crazy stuff that I'd say and do and the energy. I think it's probably it was an energy thing, I'm sure. But she's like, you should find a thing, you need to find a theater. So I went to Nathan, my son, was in a was in a small concert, Christmas concert at a town hall, and there was a Christmas tree festival, and somebody said to me, Oh, uh, introduced me to my friend Lorraine. This is Lorraine, she runs the community Skylarville community theater. I already lived here 10 years. I didn't even know what Skylarville had a community theater.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Isn't that so funny?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Like which, like, let's pro tip to everybody out there. Your community has a community theater.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Like, it was honest to God, it was after visiting you and seeing like all of the involvement in your community theater and you saying that to me, where I was like, Oh, I'm now seeing them in places, like where I live. Where my sister lives, like every area that I go to, there's some little tiny like stage place that is like a community theater space that I never noticed before.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Those people are releasing so much energy and effort and talent into the world, and they don't care if they're only doing it for 10 people. They're they're thrilled if 10 people walk away having been touched by something that they're doing. These are people that are like me, they're creatives, but they're not gonna be on Broadway. But that's not the point. The point is to share that experience and have a mutual experience in a room with a couple of people or a couple dozen people or a few hundred people because that reconnects us in all these places where we're being pulled apart and disconnecting. And it's happening on small scale in every most every community, anyway, but in so many communities, I I go around and no matter where I am, I try to, oh, is there a community theater here? I will look up from in a town more than one night if I can get to a small group's theater. And I follow those people then on uh on Instagram or or you know, their the group's Facebook page or whatever it is, because there's ideas all over the place. I don't even know how many ideas are out there, and I just keep looking for them.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

That's true. It's interesting. I want to go back to something that you just said before about, you know, these are people who are they're basically doing it for the love of the game. They're not ever going to be on Broadway, which kind of ties back into what you were talking about earlier, which is it's about the journey, it's about the process and the things that you learn a lot along the way. It's not the end result. And I think I see the same things, just, you know, again, just relatable concepts from a totally different perspective. And that was my involvement in my kids' youth sports from the time they were very small until they hit middle school, high school, and I got to sit back and just be like a booster parent. But it's the same thing. It's like you would look around, and there are all these people pushing and pushing and pushing their kids, acting like they're gonna sign a baseball contract as soon as they graduate from high school. And instead, I think really stripping the joy of learning the team sport and being part of a team and having that camaraderie. Um, not that everybody was like that, but there are there is really, I think, an entire movement of parents that again, same thing though. It's like it's about the journey and it's about all the things that you're learning while you're within those systems and you're playing those games, very similar to what you're talking about. Most people are never gonna be on Broadway. But could you imagine how bleak the world would be if if everyone was like, Well, I'm not gonna get there, so why would I get involved?

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah, so I'm not gonna do it at all.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah, it's silly.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

I mean, the to be of course, if it's if it is your the core of who you are, being perfection driven to uh to attain something in, but that's what I did in marketing, right? Like I I have a little different of a view as a creative in a marketing role in terms of perfection and wanting to deliver good work than I do in a joy space, yes, where I just want to I want to try it, I want to highlight it. And and most things have the same process. You you're in the front, anything. You sit in the front and you go, I'm gonna do that. I can't wait to do that. I'm doing that. Apply that to anything. Then you're in the middle and you go, Oh my god, this is a mess. Why did I ever get involved? Why did I do it? I believe I'm doing this, why am I doing this? Yeah, right. So there you are, comfortably in the uncomfortable in the middle of the mess, and then it's over and it's like, that was really good. I learned so much about myself, I learned so much about other people, and I can't wait for it to start over again, right? Anything worth doing, you go through that cycle. Yes, because that uncomfortable middle, you're learning, you're learning, you're growing, you're connecting, you're delivering whatever it is in that uncomfortable space. Yep. That's what makes you human. Yeah. And then it's over and you go, Oh, okay, that wasn't too bad. I'll start over again. You can apply that to theater. You audition, I can't wait. I want that role, I want to be in that show. Then you're like four weeks into eight-week rehearsal cycle, and you're like, oh my God, kill me. Why did I ever even sign up for this show? I don't know the music, I don't know my words. Then the show's over and you see all the post-production pictures, and you're like, Oh, I can't wait to audition it again. Or something else happens when you have a baby. Can't have a baby, don't want to have a baby, you know. Or I mean, you two want to have a baby, and then you have a baby, and you're like, What, what, why? Your middle pregnancy. Why? Why? Why did I do this? Why do I do this? Then it's over and you're like, Oh, look how cute. This is great. Like anything worth doing has that cycle because in the messy middle, you're growing and learning. And theater, community theater is a perfect example of that. You know, creativity around crafts is a perfect example of that. Yeah, you just you you want to attain, you work hard, you get uncomfortable, you learn, you grow. And then what a del what a great end, what a fantastic end. And you can constantly reflect on what you learned and you made new connections. And those connections carry you into the next cycle of of that kind of creative, that creative space.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Yeah. I would say too, though, you have taken some of that a step further. And I think some of it has to do with your chosen line of work, like what you actually do as a professional. But I think it's also really important to point out, and we do talk about it on multiple episodes of my podcast, where you're you're curious, you have a curiosity that drives you to get involved in more than just, oh, hey, I want to audition and I want to be part of this production, whether it's a musical or a play. You've actually had your hands in almost every area of the community theater at this point. And so, can you talk a little bit about just some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that you did when you kind of had taken a step back from even performing, but still being involved and having your hands in?

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yeah, well, first of all, I can't help myself. I mean, it's like I can, I innately, like I just can't stop being curious about stuff like that. You said curious, that was kind. I I call it like a, you know, I I can't pay attention to one the same thing for that long. I had to go try something else. Um, but in the theater space, I when I was younger, I always thought, I always want to be in the show. Be in the show, be in the show, be in the show. As I got older, I realized, okay, I've been in a lot of shows and I see a lot of new people coming on board. They there's a lot of things that they don't know about being in the show. And I truly, truly, you know, at certain shows, I step back and go, they have more to learn in this show than I do. They could, they can grow more by taking on a role, even if I want that role, then I will grow. And so that forced me to go look at other components of the show. Um, I do a lot of promotion. I will do contracts, you know, like follow all the fine print to get the promotion so that the posters have the right fine print. So we're selling tickets and venues, you know, correctly, uh licensing uh, you know, audiences, just getting people into the show, sets, planning sets, um, working with costumes. Every one of those things, I and like I said to you a little while ago, is you might be creative with a spreadsheet. Well, guess what? I can be creative with an outfit, I can be creative with a show poster, I can be, you know, creative with how we get people in the door. Yep. Um, you can be creative with the intermission food, make it match the show. Like there's so many places to be creative. I don't run out of creativity just by switching to a different role. Right. And I and and I and I'm glad I learned that because there's so much to know.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Yeah. Well, it also I think also gives you other lenses with which to view all those aspects of a production. It I think it helps you look at some of the things that you've done previously a little bit differently.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Yeah. And and don't get me wrong, like I I love to be in a show. But as I've learned about all the creative elements of theater, um, I've I've learned to be very selective because I also understand the amount of energy that it takes and how messy that middle can be based on the role that you pick. Yeah. So I love it, I love it, I love it, but I don't want to either be in that mess because there's too much to learn or I already learned it all. I don't need to be in that mess again.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

It's it's still gets the end game by doing something else.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

It just indicates such an incredible level of self-awareness as well, which is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

You're very welcome.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

But I can't do awesome, but you've been in the costume shop. So even unrelated to a show, in a moment in a show, a costume for things, when you go in a place like that, that's like creativity bouncing off the shelves. Yeah. And it's like, it is insane. It's dresses and gowns and band costumes and just craziness.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

I could have stayed and played in that cop. She's calling it a costume shop, and I'm gonna have her explain it in a second, but I could have stayed and played there for literally hours.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

It's it's a I mean, there's a lot of you want to try on other people's hair. You want to put, you know, talk about wearing different hats. I can literally on a whim go wear a hundred different hats in any given day. Yes. I mean, yeah, it's it's it's remarkable to have access to that, truly.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Um, and so when somebody comes to visit, I'm like, I'm gonna go get the key to the costume shop.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Talk about so talk about what that is. Um, it's not an actual shop.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

No, no, it's we have uh it's a it's basically um it's in an old building, and I say an old building, it's it's a viable, useful building on our main street in Skylarville, but it's it's a it's an upper floor in a in a big building in Skylarville. Um, and I think it's probably two apartments that over time, you know, no walls or whatever. And it's it is racks and racks of clothes and fabric and you know, uh hats and wigs and facial hair and shoes, accessories, belts, batteries, purses. How do you want to dress? Okay, I can dress you like we can dress you like that immediately with no notice, like you know, dance hall clothes, 20s, you know, whatever. So we're doing um Anastasia right now in in our theater group, and the we had dresses in in the rehearsal the other day, and they're just bursting with color, and it's so fun. Yeah, so I was just taking pictures of clothes. I was like, oh, glittery clothes.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Glittery clothes.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

I mean beautiful. So yeah, so it's it's crazy. And sometimes I will just take people there. If I don't have time to do a craft with them, to see a show with them, to do a thing. Sometimes I'll just go to my friend Lorraine, grab the key and say, I just want to show somebody the costume shop. Because in that moment, whether they realize it or not, you just you just your brain it connects with so many other things and it breaks the connections that you might be worried about in that moment.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

It's true. And it's fun. It is true, and it is super fun. And the reason why I wanted to talk about all of those things and get people to hear about all of the other things that you have done touching shows, even when you're not in shows, is because it is like a whole other secret world that exists. Your community has them somewhere. If it's not in your immediate town, it's with you'll find a theater, a community theater within three or four towns of where you live. And if you're the type of person who would love to be involved in something like that, but doesn't want to act or doesn't want to memorize lines, or there are so many other things that go into these productions. And I think the theater community is also very welcoming. Uh, like they would take on all hands on deck, they would take your hands.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

And so yeah, so so just in response to to what you just said, community theater is a very well kept secret, but that is only because most community theaters don't have the money to shout from the rooftops at the cost they are today to get that out there. So they rely on their faithful followings and the family and friends of the people that are in the shows and then word of mouth, uh, because there's no there's no real money for it.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

You know, a lot of community theater groups work with other community theater groups so they can share some, you know, share clothes. We we let people come in and use our costume shop and use some of our materials because otherwise they might not have costumes. Like there's that's just the reality of it. Um, I feel fortunate ours is a pretty, pretty robust group in terms of assets that we have. Um, but it's still it's not it's not huge, but some have nothing, you know. Um, and some community theaters are like ours, where we really we don't want to change the ticket price. I think we've had the same ticket price the 12 years I've been in the show in the shows, right? Because we don't want to price people out of the opportunity to see theater. Right. So community theaters might be, you know, $18, $20. Some of them are going up now because the venues are charging them, but we we don't have that problem because we don't have a venue. And we don't want to price people out. And a lot of community theaters don't want to price people out, but you still get amazing talent, yeah, and energy and creativity. Nothing, nothing corrects course corrects my mood than seeing someone else spend energy in a live performance of some kind. Yeah, whether it's delivering music, delivering lines, you know, whatever emotion they're creating on that stage, it it just feeds my soul back into a better space. Geez, there's a lot of theaters. I've connected with some incredible theaters that once they find out I'm in community theater, they take me backstage. They introduce me to the cast, they show me their clothes, they show me their props. Um, I was in Florida last year, uh, two years ago, we were doing Cinderella, and I introduced we introduced ourselves to the guy that was running that theater in Florida, and he had just done Cinderella. Oh wow. He had the wand for the fairy godmother that actually like shot glitter or sparkles or fire from the tip, and he gave it to us before we even left because he said, Well, we did the show, we don't need it here. Take the fairy godmother's wand.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

I was like that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Like, I don't know if I'm gonna get on a plane with us. Like, do you think they'll let me on a plane?

SPEAKER_00 36:44

I could be like, I'm sorry, you can't get on a plane with that wand with your glitter wand, with your sparkle wand.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

So it's it's remarkable that you're part of you know, you connect with a community just by showing up, yeah. And uh it's it's a beautiful thing. And so now I'm turning to my own creativity to try and build a different community, which is a crafting and experimentation community to create. I don't even know exactly all the things I'm gonna touch on in the in that craft space, but I have a lot to say here about creativity, and I want to keep saying it. So I'm kind of trying to translate some of this feeling and some of these desires and this vibe into a digital space so that people can just access it at will. I mean they can, but I'm trying to make it easier and more accessible. And and I gotta I want to get away from that curated perfection that digital, you know, that social creates. Yeah, here's my project, and isn't it beautiful? You can make it. And then they show you a 20-second clip. It really takes 18 hours. Yeah, and they dropped out 37 steps. Yep. And um, so I I want to share that in a in a creative space. So that's my next evolution is I'm still I'm still in theater and and doing all that, but I'm trying to create a digital um the footprint to bring people in and have these conversations.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Yep. And before so before we switch gears into that creative outlet, what you have also not just done your own local community theater, but you've also sat on like a board for a regional group as well. Is that correct? Can you talk a little bit about that too?

SPEAKER_01 38:24

I yep. So I I am the president of the community theater, Skylerville Community Theater. Um, I've sat on a couple other boards, some other community theaters, but also on a professional board, which is Adirondack Theater Festival, which is based out of Glens Falls, New York. And that theater group, their primary goal is to bring new works to stage. So in their theater season, which occurs in the summer, shout out to Adirondack Theater Festival. Yep, they bring uh professionals from New York because we're not too far from New York, uh, and and everything about it is a professional thing, but they're they're launching new stories. And it's it's really, I think their their catchphrase is where stories begin. But to see some stories that are now, hence on Broadway, grow from a thing, it's it's the same as anywhere, right? It has to grow, it has to, it has to evolve. The audiences have to see it, it has to get messy in the middle. This is where it's messy, they're uncomfortable here, they're learning, they're taking feedback, they do talkbacks. Um, it's a it's a remarkable space. I was on the board for a year. I just recently resigned from that board simply because there's so many things going on between work and this creative space that I'm in, but I I love them and I truly think that that cause is really worth it. But again, they don't have money either. Nobody has money. Theater is is really, really losing money. Yeah, so ticket sales pay for about a third of what actual expenses are for any theater group. And so everybody we're everybody's looking for funding and donations and support, right? Um, but that only comes from people understanding what's coming from this creative outlet and from understanding. So I hope I'm advancing that cause a little bit. Call your own community theater, send them money.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

I know. I think you are. It's and I think, you know, for people to, I think understanding is such a key to so many things, and you can almost do it from a backwards viewpoint. Like I've I've heard people say, I can't believe you, you know, why are you gonna go see that on Broadway? I'm sure it'll tour in your city. Yep, I'll go see it there too. You know, Broadway prices are so expensive. Sure they are, but do you have any idea what goes into those productions? Do you have any idea how much money those shows lose? How much they have to be doing in order to break even, get ahead, whatever. Now, boil that down to your local community theater where these people are not getting professionally paid to act in anything. They're doing it for the love of the game. A lot of times they're doubling as handling props. You've got people who are sewing and doing costume things, and people who are creating backdrops and finding pieces of furniture and all of those things that you're doing with no budget. And so it's like that's how I sometimes have to try to get people to look at it. I'm always gonna support it in whatever way that I can for sure, but it's like sitting and complaining about the price of something without understanding everything that goes into it, even as a profession, is to me ludicrous.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

So there's a lot, there's a lot broken in the business model of what people think the art is valued at.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Yes, totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

The the lack of understanding means you not paying the price for a ticket means you really didn't understand how much that was actually went into that, what it actually cost. And I had read, I I had read um like a creative, a creative book recently. Of course, I didn't write it down, I don't remember what it was, but it was like really what the whole point of it was what is the value of of art, right? I mean, who's who's making the determination that it's only worth $50 a ticket and not a hundred dollars a ticket?

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Who's me who's well I'm telling you right now, everybody's losing half of what they're investing in a show. They're only making half of it back. Yeah, right, essentially. Yeah, um, you know, so that that that's broken. I I can't profess you know profess any solution for it.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Um, but that's really why there are you know government funds and and all whole host of things because it's you it you need it, but it's so expensive. Yeah, totally to to produce it and to put it on. Um but honestly, it's it's worth it. And most in most theater companies you're paying for keeping somebody keeping their soul fed. Yeah. I mean, is that worth it? Yeah, it's worth it to me. It's worth it to me. I see, I don't know. I I love it. Yeah, I've seen probably about I don't know, 500 shows, five, six hundred shows in my life.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

It is mind-boggling to me. I love it. I love it. I wish.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

I'm not gonna do the math. I'm just sitting here real quick. I was like, I wonder how much. No, oh no, no, no, don't do that. Don't not do that math.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

We're not counting the cost, we're not doing that. No, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, so theater, obviously, not your only creative outlet. And you've how long have you been crafting? Like, when did you get into because you did craft pre-COVID? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

I I probably be crafting since my mom needed to fill my attention with something, and she probably put something in front of me and said, color this, you know, color this, sew this, whatever. So I I I want to say forever. Okay. My whole life. I I've never I've never been worried about making something or intimidated by making something. Uh so but what happened is in COVID, I I had nothing, we all had nothing. Nothing but time. So I decided to learn some bigger things.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

You know, bigger things like clothes and you know, just all kinds of so I bought heat presses and then heat presses unlocked an entire Pandora's box of you can make dishes and you know, all kinds of stuff. So uh it just it just blossomed and now I'm trying to formalize it in a space because as I approach retirement, I I want that space to be like a beautiful garden of things to do. Yeah. Um, and and I do plan to travel when I retire, but wouldn't it be kind of cool? I'm on the road saying, you know, I'm gonna have a pop-up workshop in Denver because I'm gonna go there to see something. And I would love to just spread the confidence for people to experiment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

And have fun, can we talk a little bit about COVID though for a second? Because I know, again, we've been friends for 10 years now, and we we do, you know, for those of you who need to know, um, we Snapchat every day. Like at least a thing.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Too much information. We just went really deep there.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

But you were snapping during that time. I would see you would snap me the piles of Amazon boxes, and you would also make side comments here and there just about, you know, some of the anxiety and some of needing to kind of channel some of those things. And I think I think that matters. That part of the story matters a little bit because just of all the things that you were talking about earlier, which is that you need these different outlets because you have to break those stress cycles. And so are you comfortable just sharing a little bit about sort of what your mindset was during that time frame?

SPEAKER_01 45:44

Yeah, it was probably not unlike anyone else who's listening, right? Everybody didn't know what to do next, didn't have anywhere to go. And it was a it was a terrible time. I was concerned for everyone, you know, like everyone, we lost people, we it was just too much.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Um, but I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna profess to say like that. I figured this out on my own. I have I have a very close girlfriend who is is really very, very smart about kind of your somatic experience and what what you take on. And her name's Allison. And Allison was really like a spirit guide for me, and said, you know, you have to you have to break this, like literally said you have to break a cycle. Yeah, and so make something. And it wasn't really like I we made things online. I'd get on with my parent with my mom, and we'd do stuff online. I get on with Allison and we'd make stuff online. And Allison probably had a heat press before me. And if I had to guess, she gave me a present and I went, Oh my god, I want to make this too. Yeah, like that on that always sends me down a different path. She has a way, the way you kind of give me beautiful comments about making you think about stuff. She has a way of doing that for me.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

And unlock stuff. And you know, one birthday she she probably gave me a mug. I think she did for when my dog died. She gave me a mug, and I was like, Oh my god, I want to make mugs.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

So then here comes Amazon, they're delivering heat presses and paper and a printer and like endless stuff.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

The 50-sized crickets.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

I only have seven heat presses, Karen. It's not that bad.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

I don't know. I've seen your storage. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

And and I I, you know, it's just it just it happened, but also I made it happen. I wanted it to happen. I didn't like the way I was feeling. Like anything, you have to want to do something different. Yeah. But sometimes, you know, you you you can't jump to the end game. You just say, I want to make something. Okay, I can. What do you have on on hand? I can help you make something. Tell me what you have on hand.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

If the stuff you only have is in your kitchen, all right, I can tell you how to bake something. Like there are ways to, but you have to be self-aware that you've hit a wall. And I worked really hard to stay in touch with my friends and and my family, and even craft for them with them, whatever it was. Yeah. Um, lots of people, I know a lot of creative people. I did a I did a wreath making class online, had all my friends from all over the country do the same thing. Yeah. We were all in the same room and we all made reads, and then we all posted our pictures of it. I didn't see anyone, but I felt connected. Sure. And I don't know. There's no real answer. You just jump in there. No, and there's no shame.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

There's no shame. It could be messy. You could say, I need it, I don't need it, whatever it is. You just jump in there and it's not a waste of time. No matter what you do, even if it doesn't come out good, it is never wasted time.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

No, because it's the process. The process can be medical. Yeah, I I totally agree with you. Yeah, totally agree with you. And I'm guilty of it myself. It it is like a it's a constant, almost shame cycle that I get myself into, where it's like, well, if I can't, what if I can't put a value on some of the things that I'm doing that I can't earn? It's like it's that pressure to like be earning that I struggle with. Where I'm like, okay, well, maybe it's time to put some of these things away again and then just go back out into corporate America and get a job instead of just figuring out like, okay, what do I need to do for fun? What do I have to do that feeds my soul? Versus do I need to turn it into something money-making, or can I be satisfied working somewhere else and then doing this on the side? So yeah, I mean, there's I think unfortunately, there's a lot of that for a lot of us.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

Yeah, I've and I think this is my community theater brain taking over. If if like three people saw my craft stuff online, and there are three, you, Michael, and my mom.

SPEAKER_02 49:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

If if that was all that, and all of a sudden you went, Oh my god, and that made me think of something else, that would be amazing. You you commented on one of my posts the other day, and I think I said, Um, this really makes me mad. Yes. And and I I laughed when I like I laughed out loud when I saw that because I was like, Oh, I said that out loud. But yeah, I said it out loud because uh that's a human moment. Yeah, I'm making something, it's messy, I have stuff all over the place, didn't come out great, but I had a great time. Yeah. And you laughed about it, and I did. That was it. Like that was that was the holy grail of a moment that I wasn't worried about earning or accomplishing or driving something or you know, whatever it was.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

Yeah. I feel like it's part of this, at least for me. I don't know if you feel this way, but I want to be part of the movement to take back how we curate our stuff on socials and how we use socials from influencers. Again, I'm putting that in air quotes. That to your point, you're talking about people who are skipping a gajillion steps, and it's like they're paid to shill stuff, and that's awesome. If that's how you're making your money and and you're comfortable with it, that's great. But for me, social media I avoided for so long. I came to it much later than most of my friend groups did. And when I did, I was very careful about curating my like my socials because I was very much like a I'm here for the community part. I'm not interested in some of that other external stuff. And so I do think that that realism speaks to exactly why I like curating my social content. I'm only interested in people who are being real. I'm not interested in people who are doing it for the the gloss and the show of it. And yeah, we're in that we're in the same movement. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

If you if you look at my page, I literally posted a picture of myself in tattered with bleach on them, Penn State clothes and no makeup. And I literally said, Okay, here's my page. I wear crafting clothes and no makeup weekends, but I'm gonna make stuff and there's no pressure here. This is this is a you have you want it to be joyful. I've seen so many creative things that they make joyfulness look unattainable, yes, and intimidating. Well, how am I ever gonna pursue joyfulness and creativity if I don't think there's a you know a prayer's chance in hell that I'm gonna actually get to the end game? Yes and literally want to throw up something that's a you can do this in like 20 minutes, and that will inspire you to move to the next step that's and just just have fun with it. I I can't stand all this curated stuff, and I and I love oh, who's the woman that stopped wearing makeup? Are you talking about actress? Yeah, yeah, Pamela Anderson. When she did that, uh something switched in my brain. I was like, Oh, you can just be yourself. Yeah, be your damn self, yeah, and enjoy some of this stuff. And yeah, I started putting it on a page, and you know what? It's been so it's been such a great relief, and it just fits into what I'm doing anyway. I'm already downstairs, spilling glitter on the table. That's well show somebody else what I'm doing. Because in a weird way, that gives them permission to go play for a minute, and that matters, yes, that matters in a way that is also comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 53:23

It's like sometimes it's visual cues that we're not even realizing that we're picking up on until after the fact. But when you can stand there in your, you're playing, but you're in your working at this clothes, right? Because you're gonna get messy. So you're not trying to dress to the nines and be in makeup with your hair all done and whatever. You're there to like play and get your hands dirty, and there's that element of accessibility that you you pick up on whether you're aware of it or not.

unknown 53:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

Yeah. So what switched gears? So so you went from creating and you were doing massive amounts of creating during COVID. I have, you know, it's funny, I always keep my Christmas tree up like way past the time that other people do. I'm I'm a big keep Christmas with you all through the year type of a person. So I don't get rid of my tree until it is dead in the beginning of February, like needles falling off as I'm taking off the ornaments. But one of the things that I found really interesting is I'm putting away my ornaments and I basically almost have like a little box full of Annette ornaments.

SPEAKER_03 54:26

And they're sorry about that.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

Oh my god, don't you dare apologize. Because they're amazing. And what's awesome about it is again, handmade gifts are some of the best gifts because you're like, well, this person was thinking about me. That's the most obvious. But it's also because of the thought that went into them. And so I have everything from one of the filled balls, like that you put, like a winter scene in it. But then you also made me that one that was absolutely gorgeous. And it was of me and my grandfather when I had visited him in Ecuador. And so, as you're taking the things off or as you're putting them on, there is a connective tissue as well to something like my Christmas tree, right? It's like all these little things that you've created, but that are pieces of me because you saw something for me and you were like, I'm I'm gonna make this for her, I'm gonna do this for her. And that's awesome, right? But it at some point you started to take some of those things and you were putting things together for people's like wedding showers and you know, baby showers, and you started an Etsy shop. And can you talk a little bit about the evolution into that and then the evolution into where you are now with the creating the content?

SPEAKER_01 55:38

Well, everything does evolve. That's the that's the thing that you can count on that everything's gonna change. Yeah, so you're never you're never really going to stay in the same space no matter what it is that you do. You're gonna do more of it, and that's why you want to be doing good things because you'll be doing more good things rather than those depressing, you know, other things because you'll take on more of that, and that's unhealthy. Yeah. So I as I yeah, I mean, as I started learning things, well, more is better than just one. So I, you know, if I'm gonna do a mug, I might as well do two mugs. If we're gonna do two mugs, I might as well make a kitchen set. Like it just I again, I just can't help myself to to to watch it evolve. But lately, and it was probably when you started this podcast, it made me realize I'm I'm doing all these things anyway. I I have the tools that few past generations did not have the tools to share this and to to let the knowledge not get lost.

SPEAKER_00 56:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:40

So documenting it, putting up some videos, um, leaving tutorials behind. I mean, honestly, I I so this is a little thing. I have I have this condition. It's not even a condition, it's like this unsubstantiated mental definition, it's called mortality awareness syndrome. Okay, okay, and in that, that literally means every day I expect to die. So with when you have that, and it's not I didn't pick it, I didn't, I don't really want it, sure. But when you I would venture to say when you have that in when you have mortality awareness syndrome in and everything you do, you expect to die. And I go to drive to work, but I expect to die in a crash on the way to work, but then I have to, I'm at work, I expect to die at work. When I'm at work, I expect to die on the way home. When you you behave differently, everything that you do better have and better better be related to your core self. Yes, because it might be the last opportunity to do that thing, and that's always driven me that I acquired that in college from a very traumatic experience, okay. Um, of of a of a friend that committed suicide. And that kind of sent me on this path of okay, oh, I see that now. Every day I realize you could die today. Somebody could die today, somebody you're you're interacting with, and it does, it happens eventually. I'm right. Right, right. Every once in a while I'm right, like, which is no satisfaction, mind you. But it it is a it is a tiny, tiny different motivator that is in my mind that might not be in everyone's mind, but I'm here to tell you that I'll worry about it for you, but you should still understand somebody, you'll lose somebody, and so you should always act in those in all of the moments that you do, as what's the gift I'm gonna leave behind. Yeah. And here I am now going, God, I got a lot to teach people. I better get this somewhere. Internet, nothing will ever die. By the way, glitter never dies either. No, I'm gonna get this.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

It clings, it clings with you.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

So I'm so I'm gonna put it somewhere, and then it will just it will be. Yeah, and that's I think everybody wants to be somewhere. Yeah, even when they're not um around. So that that's this is my how what I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna leave creativity and a reminder that you have permission to play. Be playful, be joyful, you know, work hard, but play always.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

So talk a little bit about the sort of the technical aspects of that, right? So you've created online spaces. Can you talk a little bit about what you're calling it? What are the platforms you're utilizing, and and sort of where do you see it further evolving?

SPEAKER_01 59:35

So I'm I'm doing the basics right now. I have a Facebook page, uh, Annette's Creative Corner, and then and I have that's connected to Instagram, and the Instagram's connected to Pinterest, although I'm not really that good at Pinterest. I don't really know what Pinterest does. Okay. I collect a lot of pictures, but I don't really know what to do there. Sure. Um, I and I've launched a YouTube channel, and and in that, it is uh technically it's simple because I'm not curating the content. I'm literally, if I have a thought, I go, okay, here's a picture of something I made, and here's all the supplies I used, and here's how to do it. And I have a blog, I have a website, it's called it's creative corner, and I put step-by-steps there. Everything's free because knowledge is of accessible to all of us. Um, it's you know, the my whole point is it's information you can get from somewhere, but you can't get it from me unless you go to my stuff. And what I bring is, you know, I want to leave you with something before I die today. Because that's how my brain's working. I love it. But but yeah, I I just when you started doing the podcast, I just I was like, I was like a like a troller on the outsides of the whole thing going, well, she did it again, she did another one, she collected more content, she's talking to more people about people's stuff. I'm like, I should be talking more. And it was a real inspiration for me. It took a couple months, but when you sent me the questions to do this, you were asking me questions, and I was like, Oh my god, I can't have this be the only place where I impart all my creative wisdom. And so I started launching all this stuff, and I put you off a month so it could be ready by the time we talked. And um, but that's that's how it works. I mean, that's that is why probably why you did something creative, so you could impact somebody, and you did, and you impacted me, and I made changes because you made changes.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:38

Yeah, that's how it works. Yeah, and sometimes the person that you're impacting isn't about somebody else, it's about yourself. For me, that was very self-motivated. I needed to impact me, I needed to feel different, like I was connecting differently.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:52

That's the thing, isn't it? When you do something for someone else, you get something from it that you weren't even expecting. And sometimes when you do something for yourself, you get to you, you give something back to people that you weren't expecting. Believe me when I tell you, uh a lot of the times when I craft, I do it for me, but then when I send it to you, it completely changes what it means. Yes, it meant to me stress relief and thinking about you and enjoying in a moment, you know, your trip. Yeah, but when I was making it, I also thought about my grandfather reflecting on the ornament. Thought about my grandfather. I made probably even made an ornament with him on it after making one for you with your own. It connected me back to things that I was. Then I sent it to you, and it was a whole different meaning. Yeah, and this year it meant even something different to you because now he's he's gone. And and it it evolves, and that joy, joy doesn't die. That energy doesn't go anywhere. It moves around us, and we have to we have to stop and we have to capture it, and we have to live in the messy middle, and we have to get to those endpoints. And technically speaking, we know all the tools and how to deliver information. We know how to use Facebook, we know how to use, you know, we know how to go on on YouTube. We have to spend the time to to to get it down somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:16

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:17

So that's what we're doing, and we're talking, and you're talking, and I'm and I'm typing up tutorials now, and so there we go.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:24

I know it's kind of awesome. Like every day I go on in the morning and I do my I try to keep my doom scrolling to the morning, and I call it that sort of jokingly because I've curated where I'm getting my news so that it's not overwhelming and like a fire hose every damn day. But what ends up happening is I scroll across three different platforms, sometimes a fourth, and your stuff now is popping up. So in the midst, in the midst of the doom scrolling, I get these little joyful videos or these pictures or what have you of you um imparting knowledge, imparting just like if you're interested in doing this, reach out to me, or you know, this is how you do this, and these are the materials you need. And then, of course, there's you just being real and making funny side comments that I appreciate. Like that there is such a joyful connection in you, Mike, and my mom. Look, that's where it starts.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:17

That's where it starts. Well, I I will say it it's resonating somewhere because um I launched everything in about a month, and I have about 13-1400 followers on Facebook now. And I had I had zero when I started. I mean zero. And and people are sending me, you know, direct messages and commenting and watching videos and going, oh, could you put you know, could you put a quarter in resin? Can you do, can you use this color glitter? I I actually, this is what I'm really getting out of this. People have commented and liking the projects, and I've I've said, if you could just leave me your your mailing address, I'll mail it to your house. Because I made it for one reason, but I don't know, maybe it's gonna live a different life with you. Sure. So I've mailed probably four or five of the things that I've demoed. I've just put it in a bag and mailed it to somebody who said they liked it. Yeah, the like button. I don't even know. So that's been really fun. I just okay, so here goes something glittery in the mail. Okay, yeah. I I mean I have no desire, zero desire to sell things because the water bottle will you'll lose the cap. Like, you know how all the things you nothing nothing I make is gonna last forever, but the the knowledge, the laughter turns into energy that never goes anywhere. Um, the the fun and joyfulness might rewire a stress out of your system that you really needed to discard in some way if you participate and and do a craft or watch a video and follow along and do it along. Yeah. And that's really the that's my goal there for that. That's you asking more to that question, I forgot.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:56

Yeah, no, no, no. I was I because I didn't want to cut you off, but that was sort of one of my questions was are you are you keeping up with the Etsy shop or have you evolved out of that?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:05

No, I haven't I haven't live and I'll tell you why because people look to footprints to see about your authority and what you're talking about. They look to see and and they consider those things maybe if they're there you're more trustworthy or you know it's it's viable. I'm not a bot just creating a page for traffic I'm I'm literally a person who's trying to share something with you. Yeah. So I do keep that live and I don't have a lot of orders through there. I think if you go to my Etsy page there's one probably ever but all of those things I can tell you I've made all those things dozens and dozens of times and have mailed them to people um given them as gifts people called me and said I know see your Etsy page but can you just make me stuff? Yeah and yeah so you know I do that with my with my friends and oftentimes if somebody really loves a project and they want me to make them one before I make them one I will invite them to come over and make it with me. Because I'd rather you learn the project and duplicate it a million times than me give you something that you're going to give to somebody else. Right. They didn't make it because there's there's so much more there. So much more there if I teach you how to make it and if you said you wanted to use your UV resin I would mail you a packet and we'd do UV resin next week here instead of uh talking on your podcast. What is your you plug the Etsy page oh it's an um the happy craft room the happy craft room all one word is my Etsy page and um Annette's creative corner dot com is my website. Annette's creative corner if you go to Annette's creative corner dot com all of my socials will be on the upper bar there. Okay. You can click out to anything you can go watch a YouTube tutorial or you know just see a whole bunch of glitter.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:53

Yeah. Do you have like a contact contact stuff on the website too?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:58

No there's there's a contact form that goes right into my email I think my phone number is probably on there but I won't answer my phone until I know who it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:06

So yes it is 2026 after all it is 2026 we don't just answer random phone calls that's silly very silly. Why would I answer my phone? I don't I know I know what do you think is something that you really feel like you've learned throughout like I don't want to open it up to your whole life and theater and crafting and whatever let's just keep it from COVID through now.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:35

Tell me a thing that you feel like you've learned about yourself going through all of these evolutions and processes with your creativity I have learned how to use the resource that is my energy in a way that is most rewarding because I many times I used to use my energy but it was I'd do it for someone else. I it was people pleasing I was this I was that and it never quite took care I learned when I take care of the self all the other things are so much more attainable. Yeah instead of trying to attain all these other things and neglecting myself which just was was a vicious cycle of unsuccessfulness emotionally and relationship wise. And now I just um I I use that resource very stingily very stingy somebody says you want to do this I go huh no yeah yeah but I will do that. And so understanding understanding that that was a that was a great learning curve for me in that timeframe. Yeah I love that would I have learned it without COVID maybe I don't know maybe it would have taken me longer I see a lot of people learning it much later.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:03

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:04

So I feel like I've had I've had a lot of extra time doing um really things that bring joy and fun to people.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:14

Yep I love that yeah I think for some of us get to it just coming from different places and different time frames for sure. I felt like mine was all tied to a a confluence of things that were happening in my life. So I've I'm probably not where you are yet but I'm definitely in that messy middle space of figuring some of those things out. And I think a lot of it was tied to turn when I turned 50 last year and perimenopause of course because duh that's like a space where unfortunately so many of my friends are living right now. And that burnout from corporate America and then COVID COVID was almost incidental to just so much of it for me. I think it maybe quickened some of it for me just because it forced me to stop traveling for my job and I was already reaching travel burnout. I was a hundred percent there. And so all of those things were happening at the same time to kind of get me into the space of being so much more cognizant of my time. I don't have the same condition that you have but I have been hyper aware of my mortality since I was about 12 or 13 years old. And it is definitely a thing that accelerated when I turned 50 not in a weird morbid way but just in a way of like I just need to sit back and if I really want to live in a space where I'm saying I have zero fucks to give, what does that actually mean? And what it means for me is I cannot spend time I don't know how much more time I have left the older you get the less time you have left right so it's like you are talking to weird morbid right here. I am the weird morbid one. There we go. But yeah I very much uh like settled into this space of I just don't have time for that which does not serve me anymore because I don't know what kind of time I have left and do I want to be spending it doing shit I don't care about anymore. And so yeah it's it definitely did not take the same evolution for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:16

I have um you said keyword and went ding ding ding in my brain. Yeah I I put a blog up on my page this is how I launched my website page it was literally about burnout because everybody's burned out it's true and I was like okay I'm gonna just open my webpage and say this space is for people that are burned out because if you're looking for permission to step back and do something different just to help rebuild yourself this is it this is in that moment because nobody knows how to stop how really it's it's not part of our dialogue in this country. It's like we just keep working you just keep getting pummeled with stuff and information and news and we're never gonna actually talk it back. Yeah and and address it when you get burned out yeah and that and so I yeah that was that's key word sticks with me that you that you said that it's actually very very significant right now in this life and times of basically everybody.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:16

It's true. It is true. And I think the more we talk about and this is a whole separate podcast episode but the more we talk about things like AI and how it's supposed to enhance productivity and all it's really doing in so many cases is making shit worse for people because there it's like you're cutting resources in the form of people but you're increasing workloads on existing people who then are using AI but then have to go back and edit everything that they're doing through AI and it's adding like more tasks actually and it's not the case across the board in some cases is extremely helpful. So this is not please don't come at me about if you're a lover of AI, whatever. But there is a reality of doing more with less that I think has been permeating the corporate spaces for a while now and it's really starting to just get worse and come to a head. So that burnout I see it across the board it isn't just like with you know a couple of people I'm hearing it and seeing it in so many spaces. I have another friend I'm gonna be talking to next week about potentially doing a podcast episode. She left corporate America like five or seven years ago and she's on a creative path and she's created a business out of her creative path. And you know same things it's like more and more people are opting to feel their joy instead of numbing themselves out with this grind.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:36

Yeah I would hope so I I hope there's some some outlets and everything's so curated. Yeah um just break a cycle yeah spend a minute doing something else but you know I should actually be careful by saying more and more people in my experience in my sphere I know that that's happening like we're only talking about our own spaces in my own space yeah I'll tell you what would be another podcast that menopause conversation that you refer to yeah also very impactful right now for me in why I'm kind of doing some of the things that I'm doing because nobody told me about all this crap. I know that it's one thing after another and I'm like no no no wait there's a joyful crafty little person in there that wants to do stuff as my hair's breaking out and like just all this good this rage monkey. I know there's a brilliant here how do you feel more yourself yeah right so that that even though we didn't say it at all that did contribute to to more of my desire to to feel more myself and sitting with these crafts and sitting with just projects and and doing all different parts of the shows more myself more myself than I want more of myself too because I can you know and I I know myself pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:49

I would love to do it's funny that you say that because it does it comes up a lot. I mean how can it not it's a life stage that I'm in right now and so it isn't like the only lens that I use and look through but it is a hundred percent a contributing factor to so many conversations. So it it comes up here and there I think I would love to figure out if I could get a small group of I was just gonna say do like three or like a round table. Yeah like just do a little bit of a round table discussion on an episode. I'll have to think about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:17

I'll need I'll do it I will I wouldn't do it I want to do it I want to talk about menopause. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:22

All right not here not here there are things people this didn't tell you no it's well not only didn't tell I mean actively hid it's like because it was so shameful for previous generations it was like a thing you weren't you just I have normalized menopause in my workspace.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:39

Good I will literally say no one come in my office I'm having a hot flash there you go and they're all like what what what are you yeah we've we stop pretending like it's not a real thing I know I know I love that inviting myself back for more podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:55

Thank you I love that too you have I have like this short list of people who are like oh my god I would come back and do it again and like oh good I want you to so you're going on the list. We will we'll do a round table and I'm mailing you a project right after we get off of here.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:10

I love a project um okay so as we wrap one thing that I love to do here at my kitchen table is do three good things about your week um it is just a way to stay connected and grateful and yeah just talk about what's good what's good in your life rolling seven days rolling seven days today I am in banking now and today's a banking holiday thank you very much I will take a day off any to any day of the week yeah um also I get to see well it was Valentine's this week too so Mike and I had a very lovely dinner out and I got to see Nathan and I'm having lunch with Nathan today at really all of my time even though I this creative stuff uh keeps me keeps me sane yeah um it's really the time with a with my my family that really I care about the most and my friends I got to be here with you today so to talk to you about and we stayed on one topic almost almost usually usually we're on like 520 topics in one conversation no you did great we did great today I had written notes in front of me just so I could make sure get back to crafts get back to get back to theater why it matters I love it I love it thank you so much for doing this my friend this was such a pleasure and a joy and I appreciate you so much thank you I love I love you