Did We Just Become Best Friends?

Living Life to the Fullest: A Year of Podcasting and Voyages

• Lydia Stutesman

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What happens when you mix a milestone birthday, a career shift, and a thrilling cruise experience? You get an epic journey filled with inspiring stories, memorable experiences, and valuable life lessons. Join me as I reflect on a year of podcasting, finding balance, and a roller coaster of personal and professional experiences. From the sandy shores of Cocoa Beach to the awe-inspiring adventure aboard Virgin Voyages, each moment is a testament to the beauty of embracing change and seeking joy amidst life's ebbs and flows.

Imagine celebrating your 50th birthday with a unique visit to a spot in Cocoa Beach called Area 142. Or the thrill of contrasting the allure of popular cruise lines like Disney, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean - each with their own pros and cons. We also touch on the importance of budgeting for weekend getaways, making new connections, and even dip our toes into the world of trending topics - Ariana Grande's divorce rumors anyone? As we wrap up, I'm urging all of you to find joy in every day, embrace gratitude, and just go out there and be amazing! This episode is more than just a chronicle of my adventures, it's a testament to the power of living life to the fullest.

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Speaker 1:

Hello everybody and welcome to Did we Just Become Best Friends? My name is Lydia, also known as Live Left Lydia, and thank you so much for being here. It's been a little while and I just wanted to come in and this episode is going to be me flying solo, as I am working feverishly, I'm booking my next series of guests, trying to get a little more consistent and having episodes, and that brings me to something I'm going to talk about today a little bit about balance, because I love this podcast. I just had my one year anniversary of the launch of the podcast and I realized I'm not podcasting as much as I want to and I love this so much and I love being here with you. So welcome back to Did we Just Become Best Friends? And today we're just going to go rogue a little bit and talk about random things. I'm going to be a little bit all over the place, but we're going to have some fun. So thank you for being here, thank you for listening all around the globe, and this morning I actually had an opportunity to be a guest on somebody else's podcast and they challenged me to finish writing my book, which was not on the radar at all, and they said they'll have me back on the podcast when it's done. So I don't know. I got to. I got to do on that a little bit today and process it all, but right now I am actually in Cocoa Beach and in my happy place. I'm on vacation. I'm here for the next week and I'm so excited to be here and then I realized, you know, six months from now, somebody listens to this. I'm not in Cocoa Beach anymore. So I don't know why we feel the need to talk about exactly what we're doing every time we're in the current moment and share everything we do all over social media. But that's where I am, that's what I'm doing and this is what's happening, so let's get right into it. So today, let's start a little bit about where I've been and when I've been up to. So finished out the school year. I'm actually taking a different job in the school. Next year I'm moving into a 12 month role from a 10 months, so that's been an adjustment.

Speaker 1:

Had some personal stuff going on in my family and just trying to balance the work hard and the play hard. Recently celebrated my 50th birthday, so my 50th birthday milestone, and that was a little bit turbulent and I'll explain more, because what happened was I was planning these big celebrations and I was excited about my 50th birthday and I got some unexpected news that my sister was ill. So I dropped all my birthday plans and I went out to Denver and saw her and spent a few days out there, came back, celebrated my 50th birthday with my family and then I went on the most fabulous cruise ever. So I want to talk about that for a minute, because if any of you love cruising, let me just tell you I think I'm going to name this episode Did we just become best friends Virgin voyages? Or did we just become best friends, richard Branson? Because let me tell you something, I went on the Virgin voyages for my birthday trip and it was fabulous. So let's talk a little bit about the Virgin voyages cruise line compared to other ships. Now, if you cruise at all or you're interested in cruising, let me help you with some of the legwork.

Speaker 1:

So, first and foremost, I've been on four cruise lines. Let me start there. I've been on the Disney cruise, which I loved was magnificent. I have been on Norwegian cruise line, which I also loved. I've been on Royal Caribbean and now just recently, I came off the Virgin voyages cargo lady. So here's some of the pros and cons. I'm a gambler, so I love to gamble. I went with one of my best friends in the world who is also a gambler. She's like a high roller gambler. So, just to put it in perspective, I need to be transparent. Well, I don't need to be, but I will be.

Speaker 1:

I went on this cruise for four nights so five days, four nights and paid $200. So I just had to pay the poor charges. So, for starters, virgin voyages is a little more expensive than other cruise lines. It's a more high end experience, so it is more expensive. So I got the whole luxury VIP treatment for very little money. So I think it's always better work harder or work smarter, not harder. Vacation smarter, not harder, right? Who doesn't want to get the most luxury experience for the least amount of money possible, right? Okay, so we'll start there.

Speaker 1:

Last August I went on Norwegian cruise line and I had the time of my life. Their private island by far is my favorite. It's very simple, it's very easy to navigate. They've got the Bacardi sponsorship, so there's nothing better than being in the Bahamas in crystal clear turquoise water with a mojito in your hand a Bacardi mojito. Okay, it's not sponsored in any way, shape or form, right, but that private island experience was my favorite. Nether Pro I loved about Norwegian cruise line was that they had free dining so you could go into the main dining room anytime and get a meal.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't like you had to pick a dining seating and you know. So that was. That was very appealing to me. On the cons buffets so I am not a huge fan of buffets. My husband's not really a huge fan of buffets. He doesn't like everybody touching the food and people start eating it before they get back to their table. It's kind of gross. So if you're not a big fan of the buffet, you know Royal and Norwegian both have buffets. The food on Norwegian was better than Royal in my opinion.

Speaker 1:

This is again just my opinion and I went on Royal in March for a girls trip with 20 of my friends. We were celebrating somebody's 60th birthday and we had a great time. But we were pigeonholed into a specific dining seating and one of the things they said was no matter what, everybody's doing all day, everybody we want to be at least at dinner together and there was a large group of us. So we had two tables and the food was mediocre at best. It was not good In my opinion. Now, I'm not a foodie by any stretch of the imagination, but when I do order a steak, I like to be cooked right and I like it to be tender. I usually order a filet, so in my opinion, the food on Royal wasn't so great. However, the access to food is plentiful on all the ships. It's not like I couldn't go find something else if I wasn't satisfied at dinner.

Speaker 1:

So, fast forward to July this year 2023, and I'm going on my 50th birthday trip and let me just tell you, virgin Voyages off the chain. Fantastic, fabulous, magnificent every adjective I could think of. I loved it all. But let's start with the most, the two most important words to describe the Virgin Voyages cruise Adults only. Did I mention adults only? So by me saying no, kids, adults only, that was half the battle right there, to having an amazing vacation because, listen, I have kids. My kids are older now. I have a daughter, 22 and I have a son 15. I love children. I think it's amazing that people have families and they take them on wonderful vacations. But boy was it nice to not hear anybody crying or carrying on or getting splashed in the face in the pool or listening to somebody saying mommy, mommy, and automatically my instincts turn my head because I am a mom, but knowing it's not my child. But I still turn the head. That was amazing. No kids, no stress, no worries. You don't have to worry about anybody getting offended by the entertainment on this ship, because it was just adults only. So that was great. So that was the first part. The fact that it's a newer fleet of ships amazing.

Speaker 1:

The ships were very high end, very aesthetically pleasing. The elevators lit up in different colors. If you've ever flown Virgin Atlantic, you know like it lights up like neon purple inside the plane. So a lot of that same aesthetic was there. Very pretty. Loved that they had different theme nights. So one of the nights was Scarlet Night. It was the red night. Everybody dressed in red. You know I made sure I had my Manny Petty red, so I was fully prepared to have an amazing time on this trip.

Speaker 1:

Let me talk about the food. The food was incredible. There was only one restaurant that I didn't care for the food and that was because it was more catered towards like vegan and vegetarian, and they do have what they call a naughty menu like N-A-U-T-I, like nautical, they call it the naughty menu and there is meat. But the piece of snapper that I ordered, it just it was bad. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened in that restaurant but my girlfriend loved her chicken. So Razzle Dazzle is the only restaurant I would say avoid and go to the others first. So they have it kind of themed. So the dining, the way it works on Virgin is you make a reservation for whatever restaurant you want and you don't have to pay extra. So I loved that aspect of it.

Speaker 1:

I didn't feel like I was nickel and dimed on the ship. Gratuities were all included. Basic drinks, sodas, juices were included, because on other cruise ships you have to pay for a drink package or buy a special cup or dry it. You know, buy a soda package. Basic wifi was included. You could upgrade it if you wanted to. I did notice my service wasn't the best, but I didn't care, I was unplugging, I didn't want to be on my phone all that much.

Speaker 1:

So I felt like it was a very high end all inclusive experience and of course you can still tip extra cash if you want to. It's not an expectation. You can tell they take very good care of their crew. I don't know because I'm not a crew member, but it felt like the crew was very happy and they were able to engage with us. So at one point there was this guy in the smoking lounge because my friend's a smoker. So we went in the smoking lounge and it was an I clearly see he was an employee and he's having a cigarette and I was like shocked that they were able to mingle with the guests and they absolutely were. It was very inclusive. They wanted everybody to feel like they were important, whether you were the crew or the sailor, and it was just. It was fantastic.

Speaker 1:

So back to the food a little bit. So the way they do it is they have different themed restaurants, so everything is a very high end luxury feel without any extra pricing. You can upgrade your meals in the restaurants and pay extra if you want to. So, like, for example, we went to the Wake, which is their steakhouse, and normally if you wanted to go to the steakhouse on another ship you have to make a reservation. It would be a charged dinner. The Wake had filet mignon was included and there was an amazing assortment of appetizers and desserts. It was great, and so, for example, like the seafood tower, if you wanted the seafood tower was like an extra $55 and they would bring it to your table and you would just charge to the room. But we didn't get that. So, funny enough, the casino host offered it to us, but we don't eat that much. So we were like no, we don't eat the extra food, don't waste it on us.

Speaker 1:

The overall experience of the food amazing. They had a Korean barbecue place, they had an Italian place, they had a Mexican place, they had the steakhouse and then the vegan restaurant, which I didn't care for that one. So I think if I had to prioritize it for you, I'd say get the Wake, get the Italian place, get the pink agave and go to the Korean barbecue. Now, aside from that, there was no buffet. So you're thinking, well, what am I eating if I'm hungry? There was an amazing assortment of all these different stations and you sit and they serve you in, like the regular area which would have been a buffet on another ship. You can go up and get the food yourself, or you sit and they serve you, but you don't take it with your hands. So it was great. Now, they had a ramen noodle station. They had a taco Like. It was almost like a food truck style, like there was different stations for different types of food All day breakfast, all day.

Speaker 1:

You know, like burgers, they had bento boxes that were grab and go. So there was, like morning, bento boxes with, like fruit and yogurt, parfait, cheese and, you know, charcuterie that you could grab and go salads, chicken salads, sandwiches, stuff like that that were easy grab and go. And then they had actually a sushi station where they had sushi bento boxes. So it was awesome. You could sit and relax and be served or you could grab and go, and I loved the concept. Aside from all that Not that I want to talk about food, this entire podcast, but it's just it's happening.

Speaker 1:

So, aside from all that, they had this awesome social place with pizza. So it was like make your pizza, tell them what you want on it and they do it in the brick oven and it was delicious. So from like 2pm to 1am you could get pizza. So we ordered two, took them to go, had them in our fridge and then we wanted pizza. It was ready to go. We had it.

Speaker 1:

You know, 2am, you come back in from the casino, you're hungry, you have something to nosh on. Let's go eat. Then there was this other social place that had like chicken wings, popcorn, floats, soft pretzels, a whole candy case with like cake pops and fudge. It was kind of like Atlantic City-ish saltwater taffy twizzlers, swedish fish, like just treats and candies. So there was no shortage of something to snack on. If you wanted to take something back to your room for later, we wanted to take something off the ship. It was amazing. So I can't say enough. Excuse me, I'm a little tired right now. I'm a little tired. I'm in Cocoa Beach and I'm in relaxed mode, but I cannot say enough about how amazing that ship was.

Speaker 1:

The entertainment I didn't see many of the shows because I was in the casino a lot. We had the best time ever. We did very well gambling on the ship, had a great time, met some great people with awesome energy and everybody was just so nice. The staff was nice, everybody was so great. The crew was amazing. So if you can afford to spend a little extra, if you're not a gambler, and go on the Virgin Voyages I highly recommend. There was only a few tweaks, I think in the survey that I gave that I had said could be improved. I think it's always important to leave a little room for improvement and suggestions. So I did the survey and I actually earned a free cruise. So I'm going again. So I'm very excited. All right, met some great people and I usually leave the ship with at least one or two connections that I stay in touch with. So that was kind of fun.

Speaker 1:

Now I'm back, I get home and unfortunately I come off this high of my 50th birthday celebration and I find out that my sister had passed away. So I have been trying to balance joy and loss and it seems like an every two year thing for me that I lose somebody in my family. So it's just been a little tough and it just makes me think is it okay to have fun when I'm experiencing grief? And how do you find joy when you're in grief? And everybody processes grief differently. So I'm a big fan of different podcasts and so now I'm kind of searching for some that help us, you know, with the grief process. But my podcast is about fun and living life to your fullest and I'm live, laugh. Lydia and I got to be living every day like it's my last, and I got to be having fun and laughing, otherwise I'm out, and so it's that balance, you know.

Speaker 1:

So this week I'm in Cocoa Beach, I'm having a great time, I'm going to be here for a week and I'm just in my happy place and I'm realizing the importance and the value of connections. So last year actually not last year in May, when I was here on a little weekend trip with my husband, we went to see one of our favorite tribute bands. They were playing a Cocoa Beach and that's all I needed to hear. I was like one of my favorite little local bands is playing in my happy place. I'm in, we're booking a weekend and I think it's important that you have to budget for those little weekend getaways and I think it's important to stay connected with your spouse.

Speaker 1:

My spouse and I hadn't done a lot of traveling since COVID. I had done some travel for work this summer and kind of got back out of the swing of things and I traveled to Denver to see my sister. But the fun travel, the just go away for a weekend and sleep in, don't set an alarm, be around to do whatever you want. That's happening locally. So we came back in May to see one of our favorite tribute bands and there's this little place in Cocoa Beach, if you ever get here. It's a new place, it's called Area 142 and it's got food, it's got drinks, it's got live entertainment and it's really nice in downtown Cocoa Beach and it's very awesome and it's a new discovery for me. And so we were at this Tribute Band concert and this couple asked if they could share our table because the seating was limited and we were like, yeah, sure, come on, sit down.

Speaker 1:

So we start chatting and I'm talking to this lady and I noticed she's got the cutest earrings on and I love earrings. So I was like, oh, I love your earrings. She's like I make them. I was like, oh, my gosh, they're so great. I'm like what's your? Do you have them in a store or how do you sell them? She's like well, I sell online. Obviously, I do little kiosks and I'm just starting out. And I said, well, I'd love to support your business. So I followed her on Instagram. Her name is Salty Raise, so Salty, and then it's S-A-L-T-Y-R-A-Y-Z and I said, when I come back up to Cocoa Beach for the summer, I'm gonna come meet up with you and shop your collection. So I did so. Today I'm wearing Salty Raise earrings. You can see them on Instagram I'll post a picture. But we made a connection and I said this lady is so nice and as an adult.

Speaker 1:

Mel Robbins recently had a podcast episode where she was like why is it so hard to make friends as adults? It just takes one conversation right, and she had made a suggestion. When you're out and about and you see something you like, say it like compliment. Somebody is a great conversation starter. So just me saying hey, I love your earrings. Now I feel like we are gonna be lifelong friends and it's okay to add new friends into the mix. If you have room, it's okay to say goodbye to some old friends, which I have done recently, and when people leave your life, I always say it's for a reason or if they're not making time for you, they have other stuff going on. Don't take it personal. Be in your moment. Do what's making you happy. If you meet somebody new and fabulous that you connect with, leverage that, embrace it and develop those relationships. So, anyway, that was exciting me very much.

Speaker 1:

So I'm gonna take a sip of my coffee because I'm needing to be caffeinated. Today I've been trying to add my protein shake to my coffee. It's just kind of like a two in one, I get the protein grams I need and the coffee caffeine that I'm looking for. All right, let's get into a couple things that are trending today. What is trending out there in the internet?

Speaker 1:

Well, for starters, ariana Grande separated from her husband and they are swimming in divorce rumors that don't seem to be rumors anymore. And then people are being critical of the person that she's dating. So they're saying that she fell in love with one of her co-stars on the movie she's filming. By the way, if you didn't know that, ariana Grande is filming a movie, not only is she filming a movie, she's filming a movie based on one of my favorite musicals of all time Wicked the Musical, which I have seen 14 times and I am sorry, not sorry, not ashamed. Every single time it comes to town, I see it, I love it, it's my favorite Broadway show and I love to support the arts.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, people are criticizing Ariana Grande for possibly dating her new, her co-star, and they're just saying that the pair wasn't a good fit. And you know what? Honestly, it's not our business, but because they're famous and they're in the spotlight and we were rooting for them to survive getting married so young. You know, apparently, you know they're criticizing her because they're saying that she's dating her wicked co-star, ethan Slater. They're criticizing his looks. You know what? It's not our business, okay. So unless Ariana Grande is paying my bills, it doesn't matter to me. But you know, that's our pop culture, we're fascinated by it. Wishing them all the best, because there is no privacy in publicity, that's for sure. All right, that is trending. People are also talking about the fact that Jordan Woods and Kylie Jenner might have made up Again.

Speaker 1:

Really don't care, but I like to see forgiveness because I think a lot of times. You know, people do shitty things and they hurt us, and I'm always nice and I try to forgive, forgive, forgive, because I don't want the negative energy. So I want to forgive and move on. Some people can't move on, some people cannot forgive. So if they really did become friends again, good for them. I like to see forgiveness.

Speaker 1:

Lastly, because I like to keep things in threes, let's talk about Barbie. I was trying to avoid this and I don't even know why. I was mad at it because when all the Barbie marketing started Barbie, listen to me, barbie, that could be a new handle. So last year, glam Light came out with this Barbie palette and this whole PR box collection, and I bought it for my daughter just because it was pretty. It was her birthday and I wanted to surprise her with this like awesome palette. And I had no idea they were even making a movie about Barbie and I had no idea what the ramifications of this was gonna be, but I just thought it was cute so I bought it for her. Now it's like a hot commodity. So the Barbie movie and marketing has exploded Like to the point where I just I don't think I wanted to support it, just because I was like this is ridiculous, they don't need my money. But now today I have watched the trailer for the Barbie movie and I'm like, oh my God, I gotta see this movie.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you're a woman, if you're a girl and you grew up playing with Barbies, or if you're a kid because you know my son he used to play with his daughter, my daughter's dolls, his sister's dolls because he was a boy and he had nobody to play with but a girl, so he was playing with everybody. So if you grew up, like I did, without the internet, without social media, without wealth and like all these crazy fancy toys, the one thing you absolutely had was your Barbies right? They were not expensive. You maybe didn't have all the clothes. Maybe you didn't have the Barbie Dream House. Looking back on it, I did. I had the Barbie Dream House with the townhouse. It was three levels with the little elevator with the strings that went up and down, and I loved playing Barbies with my friends.

Speaker 1:

It was like what is Barbie gonna do today? Which career is she going to be? What outfit is she going to wear? And I used to love, like the Bob Mackie, designer clothes. Oh my God, we're going to have memory lane here. But even if you were poor, you had a cheap Barbie. You had some version of a Barbie. If it came from the dollar store or the Walmart, it didn't matter, but you had or Toys R Us, you had a Barbie. Can you, can you just take me back for one minute to Toys R Us? And walking in and having an entire Mattel aisle full of Barbie Unbelievable. Anyway, I'm gonna wrap it up here soon. But the Barbie movie trailer. Once I watched it I was like, oh yeah, they're suckering me in. I'm gonna definitely go see this movie. So my kids are coming up today to spend time with me at Cocoa Beach and we are definitely gonna have a movie night.

Speaker 1:

What else is on my agenda today? I am going to the spa. My husband gifted me a gift certificate and I'm gonna go have like a body salt scrub, mud wrap situation I don't know. I'm gonna do something good for my skin because it's gonna take a lot of abuse when I'm here in the sun, and Today I'm just gonna do something for myself. That is self-care.

Speaker 1:

I was a guest on a podcast today. I recorded an episode of my podcast today. I worked to check some emails and I, you know, made some things happen on work side. So today the rest of the day is gonna be for me to join my vacation. I am wearing my cute salty raised earrings and I know what's gonna happen. I'm gonna be out and about and somebody's gonna compliment my earrings. I'm gonna be like oh yeah, they're salty raised. You should give them a follow on Instagram.

Speaker 1:

Let's be supportive of each other. Let's find balance. Let's work hard, play hard, love hard. Let's support local business and support people with their e-commerce and their Instagram pages and Somebody out there crafting and making something online that they're selling. Let's do all the things that bring us joy as we're trying to find balance and just survive.

Speaker 1:

But if you got to wake up today, congratulations. If you got the gift of today, make the most of it. If you are listening to this podcast around the world, drop a rating and a review. Tell me where you're listening from. I'm so thankful for you. I'm so thankful that you're here and I'm gonna try to. I say this every episode and I'm really gonna do it. I want to try to get here at least once a week. I'd love to podcast twice a week, but at least once a week. I'm gonna try to get more content out there because I love you guys. I thank you so much for supporting me and I just want to wish you the best day ever. Go out there and be amazing and Do something for yourself that you love, to make you happy and find your joy. I'll see you next time.