Speaker 1: Hello, my beautiful boss bees, my honey bees. Happy Thanksgiving Week.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. As you know,
Speaker 1: if you know me, you know that Thanksgiving is so today,
Speaker 1: and so naturally I wanted to dedicate an entire episode
Speaker 1: to it, and I'm going to be sharing what I'll
Speaker 1: be doing this year, some of my family traditions, and
Speaker 1: what I'm most grateful for. So let's hop into today's episode. Okay,
Speaker 1: So why do I love Thanksgiving? Yes, yes, because the
Speaker 1: food is great and I like to eat. Yes, But
Speaker 1: I feel like every day should be Thanksgiving, and I
Speaker 1: love the fact that we have at least one day
Speaker 1: out of the year to really just highlight the importance
Speaker 1: of having an attitude of gratitude. I share this a
Speaker 1: lot on the podcast. I share this a lot on
Speaker 1: my social media. The power and being grateful for what
Speaker 1: you have because in the world that we live in,
Speaker 1: in this society, it shows us on social media, on
Speaker 1: our feed. You just think of something that you want,
Speaker 1: you don't even have to verbalize it now, and it
Speaker 1: comes on the feed. I don't know how that happens,
Speaker 1: but it happens. And we're constantly chasing more everything.
Speaker 2: More, and more.
Speaker 1: I want this, I want that, I want what they have,
Speaker 1: what people are portraying on their social media, because a
Speaker 1: lot of it is a facade, guys, sorry to break
Speaker 1: it to you, but a lot of it is just
Speaker 1: for social media, and we just are it's starting our
Speaker 1: face everywhere on ads on television, like what we want
Speaker 1: by this, get that, and so we don't sit and
Speaker 1: just embrace the beauty. That's a lot of things that
Speaker 1: are free, you know, like being able to see the
Speaker 1: sunrise and the sunset and breathing air and running water
Speaker 1: and having a roof over our head. And that's one
Speaker 1: thing I always say, God, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: the roof over my head, for the clothes on my back,
Speaker 1: for the food and my tummy, and my refrigerator, for
Speaker 1: the I have this whole thing that I say because
Speaker 1: there are things that we just overlook because we're constantly like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not making enough money, or I need this, or
Speaker 1: I need to pay that, and we just need to
Speaker 1: sit the heck down on Thanksgiving and be freaking grateful.
Speaker 1: So that's why it's my favorite favorite favorite holiday. We
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about buying gifts and it's just
Speaker 1: we are eating, which we all enjoy and whatever it
Speaker 1: is it you eat. Because a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: eat turkey on Thanksgiving, I like to eat turkey.
Speaker 2: I'm very traditional in that way. Some people eat.
Speaker 1: Them alis and all, you know, whatever it is that
Speaker 1: you eat in your country or from where you're from.
Speaker 1: But the point is it's a moment to gather with
Speaker 1: your loved ones, to just really sit in your thoughts
Speaker 1: and in your grateful spirit. And that's why I absolutely
Speaker 1: love Thanksgiving and I have a lot of great memories
Speaker 1: around Thanksgiving with my mom, with my siblings on the
Speaker 1: reality show if you guys watched I Love Jen. It
Speaker 1: was a huge holiday for us, and my mom knew
Speaker 1: it was my absolute favorite Thanksgiving, and unfortunately, I wasn't
Speaker 1: able to celebrate or to spend the last Thanksgiving that
Speaker 1: my mom had on Earth with her. We were not
Speaker 1: on talking terms and I had to spend it and
Speaker 1: not had to. It was actually an honor and I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful that I spent it with one of my
Speaker 1: very good friends, Brianna, who has been on the podcast
Speaker 1: Missed Brianna Hauser, and they opened up the doors to
Speaker 1: their home and since then they've been a family to
Speaker 1: me because they didn't have to do that, and it
Speaker 1: was just as sad as it was not to spend
Speaker 1: it with my siblings and with my mom not knowing
Speaker 1: obviously was going to be her last Thanksgiving. I spent
Speaker 1: it with a beautiful family and we did exactly what
Speaker 1: I just said. I wasn't with my family, but I
Speaker 1: was with a family, eating delicious food and talking about
Speaker 1: how grateful we are, and that's what we like to do.
Speaker 1: My siblings and I are very on the same page
Speaker 1: when it comes to that. We like to pray for
Speaker 1: our food, and usually I cook. This year, I'm not cooking.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that right now. But usually it's let's pray,
Speaker 1: let's all gather. I want everyone that's supposed to be
Speaker 1: there to be there. We won't eat until the last
Speaker 1: person gets there, which is usually Mikey, my brother.
Speaker 2: Mike.
Speaker 1: Don't get upset, but it's usually the last one, and
Speaker 1: we wait, and we pray, and we will go around
Speaker 1: the table and say hey, especially to the kids, because
Speaker 1: we need to plant that seed in their heart and
Speaker 1: in their mind that being grateful is important. So we
Speaker 1: always ask them, what are at least three things that
Speaker 1: you're grateful for right now, and they could be silly
Speaker 1: things to us, but to them they mean a lot.
Speaker 1: So I think it is important to open up the
Speaker 1: table and the time for the adults and the children.
Speaker 1: And I love that, like I love doing that. Usually
Speaker 1: we don't dress up when it's at my house. It's
Speaker 1: usually been at my house Thanksgiving. I love it because
Speaker 1: I love to host it because by the time I'm
Speaker 1: done cooking, I'm tired and I don't want to wear makeup.
Speaker 1: So this year we're going to spend it at Jenica's house.
Speaker 1: I don't know how we decided that. I think actually
Speaker 1: it was because Jenica's house is so cozy and everyone
Speaker 1: you know, she just got it not so long ago,
Speaker 1: and it's just so cozy. It's just so cute, and
Speaker 1: we want to celebrate this big moment for her. She
Speaker 1: bought her her second home. I think that's how it happened.
Speaker 1: And she's a great cook. I might help. She hasn't
Speaker 1: asked me to yet. But at first I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I can't believe that we're going to
Speaker 1: break a tradition. But I think this is starting a
Speaker 1: new tradition, and I'm excited to just be a guest
Speaker 1: and have time to brush my hair and put on
Speaker 1: some makeup and just enjoy because usually I'm the one
Speaker 1: to host, and I love to host guys, so I
Speaker 1: won't sit down. Emilio's always like, baby, can you just
Speaker 1: sit down enjoy your food? Like, just relax. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how, Like, I just want to make
Speaker 1: sure everyone has something to drink. And I'm actually looking
Speaker 1: forward to not worrying I might make a dish. I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm going to make, but Jenica, I
Speaker 1: know can handle it. Usually make the turkey. My turkey
Speaker 1: is always delicious. I bake one and I fry one.
Speaker 1: Don't got to worry about the house being a mess
Speaker 1: this year. But I'm excited that I'm still going to
Speaker 1: be able to spend it with my siblings, my husband
Speaker 1: because it is my first Thanksgiving as a married woman.
Speaker 1: You guys, Oh my gosh, for the first time in
Speaker 1: years that I don't have to wear my Signora hat
Speaker 1: on that day, so I could just be a cute
Speaker 1: little wife. So I'm excited about that, and most likely
Speaker 1: for sure all my siblings and the kids, my nieces
Speaker 1: and nephews will be there. I think Immedio's mom and
Speaker 1: his grandma, who I absolutely love. She's my grandma too,
Speaker 1: but don't call her grandma.
Speaker 2: She likes amma.
Speaker 1: So I think they'll probably be joining us because Amedio's family,
Speaker 1: which is great.
Speaker 2: It works out.
Speaker 1: Actually, they have Thanksgiving like at eleven AM or one
Speaker 1: pm the latest, and they're done by four. They're like, okay,
Speaker 1: get out of the house by you know. So it's
Speaker 1: perfect because in our family we usually start at like
Speaker 1: six seven pm. So it works out wonderfully. So I
Speaker 1: can go do that and then come hang out with
Speaker 1: the family and eat. So yeah, and you know, we're
Speaker 1: very traditional. We make the turkey, we make the mashed
Speaker 1: potato from scratch. The macaroni and cheese. I make this
Speaker 1: like macaroni and cheese that has like Doritos on top
Speaker 1: of it. I'm not making it this year because Jenica
Speaker 1: absolutely surpassed my recipe. She just made it the other
Speaker 1: day for a friend of hers. Some macaroni and cheese.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you guys, ah amazing. I will take
Speaker 1: pictures and you guys will see it on my feed.
Speaker 1: But that is what we're going to be doing. And
Speaker 1: we also like to do you know, the stuffing and
Speaker 1: a green. Jackie's usually the one in charge. My sister
Speaker 1: Jackie's usually the one in charge to make either mushrooms
Speaker 1: or spinach or some type of green because we need greens.
Speaker 2: And of course the corn bread. Oh my gosh, I'm
Speaker 2: looking forward to cornbread.
Speaker 1: And I'm assuming Jennica is going to make all of
Speaker 1: this because she has not asked me to make anything.
Speaker 2: I'll probably take some soda or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I used to back in the days, guys, I used
Speaker 1: to wake up early and do all the Black Friday
Speaker 1: shopping and go to Best Buy and try to get
Speaker 1: the best TV and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: I don't do that anymore. That was I want to.
Speaker 1: Say, at least fifteen years ago. I would wait in
Speaker 1: those lines at four in the morning. Or we did
Speaker 1: this one time that they were doing something I think
Speaker 1: at one of the electronic stores, I don't remember which one.
Speaker 1: They were having this amazing crazy sell and everyone was there,
Speaker 1: like I want to say, like it seemed like to
Speaker 1: be right after Thanksgiving dinner, but it got so crazy
Speaker 1: after that, I'm like, I'm not doing this. We waited
Speaker 1: in line, we basically camped out. How to chair the
Speaker 1: whole thing and all to buy. It was a television
Speaker 1: like a sound system thing, and it was insane. The
Speaker 1: amount of like when they opened the doors and how
Speaker 1: everyone was rushing through. It was just not cute. And
Speaker 1: I'm not doing it again. So I'm just going to
Speaker 1: do a lot of online shopping and of course on
Speaker 1: my brands, we will definitely have great deals for you guys,
Speaker 1: so look forward to that. I mean, I just had
Speaker 1: to bring up Black Friday because it's literally the next
Speaker 1: day after Thanksgiving. I've always wondered why Thanksgiving lands on
Speaker 1: a Thursday. I don't know if there's a reason for that.
Speaker 1: But anyways, back to the food, because the food's important.
Speaker 1: I always say Sundays no one gains weight. You can
Speaker 1: eat whatever you want on Sundays because it's the Lord's
Speaker 1: Day and calories do not count. Obviously, you know, you
Speaker 1: don't have to limit yourself, but anything and access is
Speaker 1: bad for you. Anything, don't be excessive. But on Thanksgiving, guys,
Speaker 1: I feel like this same that's.
Speaker 2: The same rule.
Speaker 1: You can eat whatever you want, and you know, if
Speaker 1: you pray for your food, especially if you ask God
Speaker 1: for it not to affect you in a negative way
Speaker 1: and make you gain weight, you won't. So I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily limit myself per se. I'll eat everything in like
Speaker 1: my everyday life, including Thanksgiving, but of course portion control
Speaker 1: that's been important to me. So I'll have a little
Speaker 1: bit of everything, and I'll have seconds and of course dessert.
Speaker 1: But I definitely like to try everything because then the
Speaker 1: next morning I'll wake up and I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 1: want this. Why didn't I have that? And I don't
Speaker 1: want to regret it. So that's kind of how I
Speaker 1: do it in my everyday life. You know, if I'm
Speaker 1: trying to be good during the week and I want
Speaker 1: some chocolate cake, I'll have a little bit for sure,
Speaker 1: especially if I worked out, and I like to work
Speaker 1: out on Thanksgiving. So we're working out on Thanksgiving, Pape okay,
Speaker 1: and meeting it's right here. He's sitting right in front
Speaker 1: of me. He thinks I'm crazy he's working, but I
Speaker 1: think Equinox is open on Thanksgiving? My love, are we going?
Speaker 2: Sure? He's over me? Are you over me? Or you
Speaker 2: love me? How much are you going to be grateful
Speaker 2: for me this Thanksgiving?
Speaker 1: Okay? I love it, guys. I just thought it would
Speaker 1: be cute for you guys to hear that. But now,
Speaker 1: if you know, we should definitely talk about you know
Speaker 1: what I'm grateful for this year, and a lot has happened, guys.
Speaker 1: This year has been full of ups and downs. Mainly
Speaker 1: ups for sure, but a few very low moments, but
Speaker 1: they've balanced each other out in some way.
Speaker 2: I've had a lot of work.
Speaker 1: I have been more tired than I've been in the
Speaker 1: last I don't know how many years. I haven't felt
Speaker 1: this amount of fatigue or like on the verge of
Speaker 1: a mental breakdown in a very long time, in years
Speaker 1: and years. But thank goodness, I've done the work. I've
Speaker 1: done therapy, I meditate, I've learned to do all these
Speaker 1: healthy things that make me feel like my healthy self.
Speaker 1: Even if I'm having a bad day, I know how
Speaker 1: to navigate through it and work through it. But it
Speaker 1: has been a tough year. But I'm very, very grateful
Speaker 1: for everything that's happened, even the miscarriage. Guys, it might
Speaker 1: sound weird, but I'm grateful. I'm grateful. Only God knows
Speaker 1: why it happened, and it just it helped me understand
Speaker 1: that my body is doing what it needs to do
Speaker 1: and that I'm going to be okay, and as painful
Speaker 1: as it was emotionally, I'm grateful for that because it
Speaker 1: brought it me to and I and I've always said,
Speaker 1: if I'm going to conceive, I do want to be married,
Speaker 1: and we weren't married.
Speaker 2: Yet, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: It just helped me understand a lot of my life
Speaker 1: and why things have happened, and I shared all of
Speaker 1: that with you guys on the podcast already. But I
Speaker 1: am definitely grateful for my husband and the relationship that
Speaker 1: I'm in right now and enjoying it, and grateful for
Speaker 1: my past as well, because if none of that would
Speaker 1: have happened, then I wouldn't be able to really enjoy
Speaker 1: and embrace what I'm living now. So I'm grateful for
Speaker 1: my siblings, for my nieces and nephews. Oh my gosh, Jayla,
Speaker 1: the eldest granddaughter is fifteen, now, what the f Literally,
Speaker 1: I'm grateful that I'm going to be able to spend
Speaker 1: some time with them. We're going to New York on
Speaker 1: a trip on a girl's trip for her birthday, so
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for that. I'm excited for the amount
Speaker 1: of work guys that we've had, so.
Speaker 2: There's a lot to be grateful for.
Speaker 1: And yes, we all have those moments where we are sad.
Speaker 1: And you know, I just had a little breakdown last week, guys,
Speaker 1: I did. I was not feeling it. I something was
Speaker 1: going on, and all I needed was to rest. I
Speaker 1: literally slept and I felt better. So make sure you
Speaker 1: guys are listening to your body. Be grateful that your
Speaker 1: that your body speaks to you. We just have to listen.
Speaker 1: We have to quiet our mind and listen to what
Speaker 1: our body is saying and not ignore those things and
Speaker 1: try to push through. It's very important to rest your mind,
Speaker 1: your body, your soul, to listen to it and honor that.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that among so many things that I'm grateful for.
Speaker 1: And now that we're here talking about being grateful, some
Speaker 1: people may be going through a tough time, through somewhat
Speaker 1: of a dark season in your life. I was there
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve. Like I just mentioned, I was in
Speaker 1: a very very very bad state emotionally mentally. But that
Speaker 1: day I remember waking up I said, you know what, Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm going through this. I'm very sad. I feel like
Speaker 1: my life is falling apart. I remember that day waking
Speaker 1: up and saying, okay, it's Thanksgiving. Today is the day
Speaker 1: where we highlight being grateful. And I'm like, yes, I
Speaker 1: need to be grateful. It would be a disservice to myself,
Speaker 1: to God, to how good He's been to me to
Speaker 1: not be grateful today and try to put a smile
Speaker 1: on my face and put all those things to the
Speaker 1: side for a moment and just live and just say
Speaker 1: out loud what I'm grateful for. And I sat in
Speaker 1: my little one bedroom. I was living in a garage
Speaker 1: actually then, and I turned the only bedroom into a closet,
Speaker 1: very Janet fashion, and I was sleeping in the living
Speaker 1: room basically, and I'll never forget that apartment. I felt
Speaker 1: so much peace. But I sat on my bed by myself,
Speaker 1: I read a devotional, prayed, and I set it out loud.
Speaker 1: I am grateful that I'm here. I'm grateful that I
Speaker 1: have a roof over my head. I'm grateful that I
Speaker 1: have this space where I feel safe. You know, I
Speaker 1: live in the garage of a wonderful lady and her daughters,
Speaker 1: and they're very nice to me. And I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be okay, I'm gonna be okay, this too shall pass.
Speaker 1: I kept telling myself that, and then I got a message, Hey,
Speaker 1: would you like to come spend Thanksgiving with us? And
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't have to eat cereal.
Speaker 1: So I was grateful for that. So I think there's definitely,
Speaker 1: as cliche as it may sound, there is always something
Speaker 1: that we can look at and be grateful for, even
Speaker 1: if we're going through those tough times, if we if
Speaker 1: it's our first Thanksgiving without our loved one. I went
Speaker 1: through that as well the following year. Not only was
Speaker 1: my mom on earth in twenty twelve and I wasn't
Speaker 1: able to spend it with her, the following year was
Speaker 1: my first Thanksgiving with my siblings without my mom, and
Speaker 1: that was very different.
Speaker 2: And of course we just sat around and we're.
Speaker 1: Thinking about all the beautiful moments we spent with her
Speaker 1: and laughed and listened to her music and watch movies
Speaker 1: and we did things that made our heart feel good.
Speaker 2: So I get it.
Speaker 1: You're not alone. It will be okay. You just really
Speaker 1: have to dig deep and inward and find at least
Speaker 1: one thing to be grateful for, because there's always something
Speaker 1: to be thankful for. So that is Thanksgiving, guys, that
Speaker 1: is this is the week. I think, like I said earlier,
Speaker 1: every day we should be grateful and have an attitude
Speaker 1: of gratitude because I feel like when we do that,
Speaker 1: we attract more good into our life. And it's not
Speaker 1: just just to say it, it's you really have to
Speaker 1: mean it. So I hope that you guys have a
Speaker 1: wonderful Thanksgiving and take the time by yourself in the
Speaker 1: morning or whenever you can before cooking, after cooking, to
Speaker 1: sit by yourself and really just reflect and sit in
Speaker 1: that atmosphere of thankfulness, and then do it with your family.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I just.
Speaker 1: Needed to talk about it and express all these things,
Speaker 1: and hopefully you guys enjoyed this episode and hopefully I
Speaker 1: reminded you of a few things that maybe because of life,
Speaker 1: because we're life in. Because life be life in, we
Speaker 1: forget about. And if you are spending it alone this Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: do not worry.
Speaker 2: It's okay.
Speaker 1: Sometimes being alone is beautiful because you can listen to
Speaker 1: your thoughts, you can do whatever the heck you want
Speaker 1: to do. So find something that is going to make
Speaker 1: you feel good, that it's going to make you happy
Speaker 1: and feed your soul. Okay, it doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It could be I don't know,
Speaker 1: an order from popeyees, anything that you can pray for
Speaker 1: and be grateful for. So AnyWho, guys, I love you, guys.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you. I
Speaker 1: am also very grateful for you for taking the time
Speaker 1: to listen to Chekys and Chill. To Dear Cheeky's, it
Speaker 1: means a lot. I know that it is your time invested,
Speaker 1: and I truly appreciate it. So I'm also grateful for
Speaker 1: each and every single one of you, and I will
Speaker 1: catch you on the next episode of Cheeky's and Chill.
Speaker 2: Bye.
Speaker 1: Do you need advice on love, relationships, health emails? I'm
Speaker 1: so excited to share with you that my Cheeky's and
Speaker 1: Chill podcast will have an extra episode drop each week.
Speaker 1: I'll be answering all your questions. Just leave me a
Speaker 1: voice message. All you have to do is go to
Speaker 1: speak pipe dot com slash Cheeky's and Chill Podcast and
Speaker 1: record your questions.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to hear from you.
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