Positively Midlife Podcast

Fall Vibes And Back To School - Ep15

August 17, 2022 Ellen and Tish Season 1 Episode 15
Positively Midlife Podcast
Fall Vibes And Back To School - Ep15
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Show Notes Transcript

Fall is a special season! This week we're talking about things that give us fall vibes and fall traditions that we love. We'll take a look at fall fashion favs, adventures, fall decorating, and fall food and drinks! It’s the nostalgia of wanting to pick out new school supplies and a lunch box.... it’s the Midsters fall back-to-school episode.   

This week's obsessions:
Tish: the one piece you need for your fall wardrobe Spanx faux leather leggings
Ellen:  Pentel grown-up kid multi-color pen!

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Ellen Gustafson:

Welcome back to the Midster's Podcast. I'm Ellen with my co host Tish and today we're going to talk about my favorite season and many of years to the fall. We'll talk about things that give us fall vibes and some traditions that we love on fall fashion adventures, decorating, and fall food and drinks. It's the nostalgia of wanting to pick out new school supplies or new lunchbox. It's the minsters back to school episode. What do you think Tish?!

Tish Woods:

so I couldn't agree more. There's just something about this time of year. And the going back to school that kind of just brings my memory back to shopping with my mom getting all my new school supplies and picking out that oh, so important pencil box. And all you know what, what decorations what kind of, you know, folders I was going to have? And oh, gosh, yeah. So there's just something about fall that makes it just so special. And I did notice that today for the very first day that I went and got my coffee, and I sat on my back porch. And it wasn't hot, humid already at eight o'clock in the morning. So that little bit of false coolness was starting to creep in here in South Carolina, ever so slightly, but I definitely noticed it. So I was I was kind of excited about it. I'm just, I get excited about fall. Fall is one of my favorite seasons as well.

Ellen Gustafson:

Oh, so good. Well, before we get into all of the great things we have to talk about. Tish, what's your obsession this week?

Tish Woods:

Okay, so my obsession this week is going to be something that you're going to want to be wearing all fall. And that is the Spanx faux leather. leggins. So, I mean, come on. Spanx is the best friend of our Midster Group, because it holds everything in it makes it look sleek and tight. And it is a must have. So what I'm going to tell you is invest in that really good pair of even if you don't want the faux leather ones, but a really good pair of leggings, because there's a lot of fashion that is going to pair with that this season. So that is my obsession.

Ellen Gustafson:

Well, you know, you had me at Spanx Tish. So enough said there.

Tish Woods:

What about you, Ellenn, what is your obsession of this week?

Ellen Gustafson:

Well, my obsession is along with this kind of back to school theme. And I'm sure that you may relate to this. I think you may relate to this. But when I would go back to school shopping with my mom, I would always want one of those fancy pens that I think had 10 Different color inks at the top and you clicked each one down, put them down. Oh, I loved those. Right, right. And so my obsession, my mom, she wasn't big into buying the fancy stuff for back to school. So I'm not sure how often I got one of those. But I have, found me an adult version. And it's called the Pentel four color eraser point pan. And I just love it. It's red, green, black and blue. And you know, you can edit or doodle and change the colors, but it's very fine.

Tish Woods:

I love that that is so fun. And it's such a nod back to those days of you know what, Mom, buy me this special pen. I'll have straight A's if I have my four color pen, because I can color code everything.

Ellen Gustafson:

Exactly. But you know, you get to be an adult and you find an adult version of a lot of the things that you you always wanted. So we'll put some links on our face on our show notes and show some photos on on our Facebook page of our obsessions for the week.

Tish Woods:

Oh, that's great. Well, I'd like to really kick it off about fall fashions. Okay, so I had mentioned how the leggings were going to play into it. So what I have noticed was there's two really diametric different looks going on in fashion right now. And one had to do with this very edgy street look, you know, all black it kind of likened me back to the my days in DC in college in the 80s. Yes. What was that group Ellen?

Ellen Gustafson:

I'm gonna say I was just thinking the same thing. It's so funny. We're on the same wavelength. The girls from the Robert Palmer band, you know, with the guitars and the slicked back hair and the black minimum

Tish Woods:

last and yeah, you know, we just loved that we We just vibed that when we were in college. So, the Givenchy, she had their runway show, and it really was just like this edgy, heavy metal look to some of the, but it was effortless and it had the leggings and it was just chic, simple. And that all black look that always makes you feel like you should walk so hard in those heels that you can hear and go click click, click down the hall. So that was one of my favorites. But the other end of it was this really type of romantic look. And I don't know if it's coming out of watching bridgerton all the time, or I don't know what it is. But there's that real flowy romantic look. So you know, whether you're in the mood for that type of look, or that st edgy look, it is all there. And so I was going through a lot of the different styles that voc has on Instagram. And I was just loving it, there was a lot of this graffiti type prints that they were that they were matching with the All Black looks. So it gave just a little hint of color in very small pockets on the clothes, but it was just so urban vibing coolness to them that and I thought well, maybe I could, like you know, create some of those looks on my own. So I'm gonna try some of those out. But some of the other stuff that I was seeing was this, what they refer to as a Copenhagen street style. And again, just that more casual, edgy look to it. And so I was loving that there's still a lot of pops of skin. So you'd have shirts that had you know, shoulders exposed up or not cleavage exposed, but like, you know, the upper on the collarbone exposed meshes inserted was that little hint of skin that just just I don't know, just makes it interesting and vibing. So there was a lot of that happening in the fashion. And then and this one, I definitely want to try out. They have you using like a three piece suit, the vest part of a three piece suit, they were using the vest as shirts, so nothing underneath it, but just the vest is the shirt itself in very monochromatic so the vest would match you know the the looser fitting, you know, pants

Ellen Gustafson:

trousers, like a trouser.

Tish Woods:

Yes. And I just love that look, it was very chic. Without the shirt underneath, I think with the shirt underneath, it will make it look aged and old. But you know, it just made it look young and fresh. So I think I'm going to try that out at some point here.

Ellen Gustafson:

I think I'll try that out too. And ladies, get out your hand away. It's right to get the Keep those arms in shape, even in the winter.

Tish Woods:

Yep. And if you bought some of those thick soled shoes and boots, they're still in. But you know what the one thing I saw that I I'm just not on board with and it's a very decisive look. And I think I think you know what I'm talking about Allen with the boots. I liked the fitted boots, you know, I don't need any more added volume to my legs. But they had this boot that was huge on the thighs. And I thought, Oh, heavens, no, no,

Ellen Gustafson:

I'm like a swashbuckler, like a swashbuckler boot.

Tish Woods:

Like, yeah, yeah. I wasn't feeling that. I'm sorry. I wasn't feeling it. And it even made the, you know, the thin performers. I think it was on rayon or something that it really? I don't know. I didn't find it flattering. That is not something I'm going to try. But it was definitely interesting.

Ellen Gustafson:

Yeah. Give me a big chunky sweater. And I'm happy.

Tish Woods:

Oh, yeah. You know, there's just something about fall, the fall clothes, just a real change up. So that's a little bit about the fall styles, but I want to hear on what you love to do for Fall adventures.

Ellen Gustafson:

Well, I do remember as a kid, having so many adventures in the fall. They all included driving mostly right in the back in the back of a Ford squire Country Squire station wagon.

Tish Woods:

No seat belts and there were their seat belts. No

Ellen Gustafson:

No way no how and just taking a lot of Sunday drives to go apple picking. And of course enjoy all the other treats of the delicious doughnuts and apple cider as well. And So I really equate the fall with taking adventures and I'll still go apple picking. And I'll go to a pumpkin patch as well. Even without kids, right, I still love to go pick out my pumpkins. But just the idea of being in a pumpkin patch or an orchard just sounds wonderful for the fall,

Tish Woods:

I would challenge you to take a beautiful plaid flannel blanket, grab a couple of your girlfriends, go out to the apple orchard, get those doughnuts, go sit out there in the sunshine. And watch the little kids run around and reminisce about you how yours did the same thing. And just really just enjoy the day, you know, soak in just the whole vibe of that. But I say don't miss out on it just because you don't have little ones anymore. Take your girlfriends and go out and do that kind of stuff.

Ellen Gustafson:

It's so true. It's a great idea. And you know, I still love corn mazes that they happen a lot of the pumpkin patches. They're a blast to do with your girlfriends or your boyfriend or whomever you're with. And I really enjoy sitting out at a fire pit in the fall. Just in the backyard. Yeah, you know, just sitting around wrapped up in a blanket or a hoodie or sweatshirt and just looking at the stars. It's it's somehow the fire smells better in the fall, right?

Tish Woods:

It does and maybe like us like cider like without nice spicy red it or something? By the fire. Yeah, that sounds heavenly to me right now.

Ellen Gustafson:

I know I'm sure it does.

Tish Woods:

So one of the new traditions that I had started just a couple years back was we have a lot of farms around here that plant tons and tons of sunflowers. And they allow people to come for free to come through their farms, take pictures, walk through the huge sunflowers and just really enjoy it. And I have really come to look forward to that in the braid at the beginning of the fall. We've done a couple of really cute photo shoots before with friends. But seek it out because I know it's not just in my area, they do this. But you know, do a Google search if you there's any sunflower farms that let you come and enjoy them because they're spectacular.

Ellen Gustafson:

Wow, that does sound like a blast and I have seen your photos. So let's post some of those fabulous sunflower photos.

Tish Woods:

Well, I definitely will. So let's go from fall fashion to fall decorating. So I big on fall decorating. I do love it and not just the Halloween Halloween stuff and I do love Halloween, but just the the flowers and the just changing out your linens, you know, using all that kind of stuff. But what I've switched over to is that the pumpkins you know everyone does the orange pumpkins. I've been really into the heirloom pumpkins, the ones that are like green and cream color. And they're like a much lighter orange and there's bumpiness all over them. There's texturing to them. I absolutely love it and you want to hear something crazy. Tell me my heirloom pumpkin from last year just went bad. Like this month like in the heat it in the in the terrible heat. But that's how it I don't know why they last so much longer. They last so much longer than the orange brother ins.

Ellen Gustafson:

They're so beautiful. They're really just

Tish Woods:

You know, get a couple of corn stalks a couple, you know, beautiful colored moms and have just, you know, just a little thing at your door and it just makes me happy every time I go in and out. Just change up your pillowcases on your couches, and you get a whole new vibe going with the fall.

Ellen Gustafson:

It's so true. And you know what I love to do? I'm not sure you do this with your ranger but my little dog Gigi, I have three or four Halloween costumes and, you know, once a sunflower like she's a little sunflower and the other is a bumblebee but I just love to put her in her costumes in the fall and have so much fun with it and walk around the neighborhood. Just have have fun. Do you dress up Ranger?

Tish Woods:

Yes, I do. He's not a fan of being dressed up. But yes, I have been known to dress up Little Rangers. Well, it's just there's, I don't know what it is about when we get rid of our kids. All of a sudden the dogs become the focus of all this silly nonsense.

Ellen Gustafson:

Oh, they do that that they do. But, you know, I have a soft spot in my heart for mums too. It just seems like just exactly what you talked about kind of that tableau of corn stalks, different colored pumpkins and some really horrible

Tish Woods:

hay bales. So yes, different levels. Yeah, I love all that. So we've gone from fashion to decorating. You know, we got to talk about some food and wine, and you are in the heart of it all.

Ellen Gustafson:

You know I am and so I love fall inspired food and drink. I'm going to make it safe to drink instead of just wine. But you know, I love going from my Rose or my Sauvignon Blanc to a Pinot Noir and then to just a whole lot of different reds and right now in the fall coming up here in Napa Valley, and Sonoma is the crash and it is

Tish Woods:

okay, Ellen. Wait right there. Okay, do explain to our people, because not everybody is fortunate to know about Napa. I've been there. But what are the two big seasons that Napa has?

Ellen Gustafson:

Well, there is what I consider the number one. One of the two is mustard season, and that's where they plant all of the fields with this gorgeous yellow mustard. And last year or the year before Tish came out. Yep. And we have some photos of the two of us in some fields of mustard. And it was so much fun. There's a lot of different festivals and different things for that, but here in the fall is when they harvest and crush the grapes to make the wine. And it's a spectacular time in Northern California. And I know Tish was talking about how it was cooling down in in South Carolina. We actually have beautiful warm weather through the end of October here. If it's like our summer in a way, so going up to Napa all over you can just smell the crash and there's a lot of activity going on and it's so much fun. So always in the fall. I love to go up and see what's happening up in Napa Valley. A lot of the restaurants have special events around it too. So I do consider myself so lucky to live so close to to Napa and Sonoma.

Tish Woods:

I think next year I'm going to have to come for crush.

Ellen Gustafson:

I think you need to I definitely do. The other thing that I love about fall are soups. I'm a big soup lover, and a friend Laura Polly a chef she gave me a recipe for roasted heirloom tomato soup. And it is easy and amazing. And nothing tastes better with it than a fabulous little grilled cheese so I can post that recipe without a doubt. Tish Do you have a favorite fall soup?

Tish Woods:

I do. I do. So I make this tortellini and sausage soup with zucchini and it has a real rich like beef Bojan base to it and it has crushed tomatoes in it. And I mean it is a full on meal you know as a soup but I have made it a lot of times and people just absolutely go crazy over it. But it has the beef totally knees. It has zucchini onions. There's even Romano cheese in it and it is spectacular. I think we need to post both of those recipes because they're so spectacular. Is that a family run love the savory stuff.

Ellen Gustafson:

It's what is that? Is ita family recipe that one?

Tish Woods:

was my that was mine creation recipe so yeah.

Ellen Gustafson:

Nice to you love the savories so fall is really your time. I think you told me that you've even hollowed out mini pumpkins and serve soup and those tell us a little bit more about that.

Tish Woods:

Yeah, we I used to have my own catering business and we used to do these like kind of themed luncheons and the one year I got these tiny the tiny ones, not the teeny teeny ones, but the ones that are kind of like a large softball size and we hollowed them out and then we put the soup inside the pumpkin and then we put the top like kind of a fix to it off at the side. And I gotta tell you, the ladies who we serve the luncheon too. We're fighting over taking their pumpkins home He's so funny, but it just added something to it. And you can buy those little pumpkins for like$1 apiece. And if it's it would just make such a splash at your next dinner party. Serving your soup out of the pumpkin. It was spectacular.

Ellen Gustafson:

Wow, I know they have those at Trader Joe's. That's a good place to get those little mini pumpkins out here at least. It sounds fabulous. Well, I just wanted to chat about my slow cooker. Because this is something else I break out in the fall and I make Coco van and beefs do quite a bit in the slow cooker. And I love that you can just put it in in the morning and you have something that smells delicious all day long and that you want to eat when it's dinnertime. So loving what is a CoCovin it's um it's like a chicken dish French red wine and chicken and wine. So it's almost like a chicken stew with with wine. It's delicious. And I can put a definitely put a cook event slow cooker recipe on our show notes too. So I think it's you know, it's very savory and warm. It's something that warms your bones, you know?

Tish Woods:

That's that that must smell incredible with the wine in the chicken cooking during the day. Because you said it's a slow cook method, right? Yeah. Yeah, that must be spectacular. What kind of wine would you use in something like that?

Ellen Gustafson:

I think he's like a nice red wine like a burgundy. We'll have to ask Julia Child, she'll tell us what wine. Absolutely. And to pour. The most important thing is that you pour yourself a glass as it nears completion on on that. But you know, there is just pumpkin everything with food. And, of course, the you know, wildly popular pumpkin spice lattes, and chives, and all of that. But I I'm not somebody who has a particular pumpkin recipe, but I know that you have a recipe that people go crazy over with pumpkin.

Tish Woods:

Yes, I make these mini pumpkin muffins. And I have to say it is my youngest son's absolute favorite sweet thing that I make. And I do the pumpkin muffins. And instead of using canned pumpkin, I use canned pumpkin pie mix. It just adds a different depth to the muffins. And then I use white raisins. And they plump up really big in the muffins. Unlike they're the red raisins that tend to be a little drier even when they're cooked. The white ones just tend to get more chewy and juicy in there. I have made them for years and years, especially when it came to you know how they have the back to school days for the teachers. And they asked you to send in some food for the teachers luncheon, I would send the muffins. And every single time I would get messages back through my kids. Oh my god, please send more money. And when you do them as the minis, everyone can just get a little piece of it. But if you're going somewhere, and you just need a basket of something to share, these things are spectacular. And I will share that recipe as well. Because it is fantastic. You can make loaves out of it. But I just liked the little mini muffins. There's something special about them. You can pop them in your mouth, but I think I might have to make them as I take Liam up to school before I leave, maybe make a bunch for him in his new roommates coming up.

Ellen Gustafson:

That would be great. You'd really he'd be the obviously the most popular kid in the dorm.

Tish Woods:

Well, you know, it's funny. So even though it's still kind of warm, both where you are and I am. There's just something about the cooling off in the starting of fall. That is just a special time. And I want you to start your own traditions and think about you know, our listeners, just think about the different things that you want to share with your friends and family that are special about fall and just take that moment to find your joy about what it is about fall wet. Is it the food? Is it the wine, is it the different adventures? You know, we want you to really celebrate this coming season. And we would absolutely love if you would post on the minster's podcast Facebook page, some of your pictures that you you have whether it's fashion or adventures or whatever it is. We would love if you shared what you love most about the fall.

Ellen Gustafson:

Absolutely, definitely folks, put those photos up or just drop us a line to.

Tish Woods:

We'd love to hear from you. So that kind of wraps up our session for today ladies, but till next week misters I want you to have a great fall beginning

Ellen Gustafson:

by Midsters, till next week