15. 2021 Recap and Looking Ahead to 2022
In this episode, Merritt shares some highlights from the last year including her favorite moments, best purchases, TV shows, and more, as well as sharing her goals and hopes for the coming year! At the beginning of the episode, Merritt shares a week/weekend recap (including a near dognapping incident and one of her best meals *ever*), her thoughts on the Attached book she just finished (and another one she just started!), the TV show she just started this week and some other holiday related tidbits.
In the Beck and Call Q&A segment, Merritt answers listener questions on her favorite swimwear and a heavier question about why it's always up to the man to decide when a couple is ready to get married (she has lots of opinions on this one)...
Follow along on Instagram @beckandcallpodcast for a visual guide to this episode, and head to beckandcallpodcast.com for more information and to get in touch!
If you're in Dallas, be sure to check out @mrs.clausconcierge for all of your gift wrapping needs throughout the year!
EPISODE AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION
Hey guys, welcome back to the beck and call podcast. I'm your host Merritt Beck. I am a fashion and lifestyle blogger and on this podcast I'm talking about all things life work and love as a single woman in my 30s Oh man, am I happy that it is officially Christmas week not only because it's my favorite holiday, but all of my Dallas plans have officially ended. So over the weekend, I had another bunch of plans. I had like three things on Saturday, I had a big night out on Friday. And then I had three things yesterday as well. And so I am very exhausted and looking forward to a super relaxing time in Austin. And I'm heading to Austin tomorrow to spend the week with my family. And then my plan is to come back for a few days next week and then head back to Austin for New Years. I thought I'd give you all another recap. Since I did that last week. I've just been so busy and have had lots of fun things to do. So last week, I had a bunch of random little holiday dinners to see friends and other people before we leave for the holidays. And then this weekend was just a giant mashup of things. So on Friday night, I went to the monarch, which is a restaurant in the Thompson hotel I had never been to before. And it was to celebrate my friend Amy's birthday. And if you don't know Amy, her name is Amy Jackson. She is a fashion blogger. And her Instagram is at fashion Jackson. And she lives in Nashville now. But a lot of her friends still live in Dallas. So she came in for the weekend to celebrate. And we went to the monarch, like I said, which is kind of a new restaurant. I hadn't been to the Thompson hotel yet, I want to say it opened in the last couple of years. And it was the most incredible dinner. So when I first got there I arrived by myself. And when I first got there kind of didn't know where I was going and the people in the hotel kind of guide you where to go. And then when you get to the kind of entrance to the restaurant elevator, they give you the handier champagne and glass. And then you go into the elevator and go up to the 49th floor and the restaurant takes up the entire floor. So you can imagine how large the restaurant is. And also sweeping views of the entire Dallas skyline from like every angle actually got the best photo of it from the ladies bathroom stall, if you can imagine, naturally, there was a line just to get a photo of that and I somehow managed to be in the right position in line to get in there next. So I did get a good photo of that and it is on my public Instagram at Merritt Beck if you want to check it out. Now we've got to get to the food because that was maybe one of the best meals I've ever eaten ever. We ordered kind of a chef's tasting. And so we got to try a bunch of different things on the menu some of their most popular items and my favorite things that we ordered worthy Wagyu beef or tar and it came with shaved black truffles and the most buttery brioche bread that you'd put it on kind of eat it like a sandwich. It was so insanely good. And then the two pastas I liked we ordered like four or five pastas, but the two pastas I liked were the catchy Pepe and the short rib Bolognese and I'm not usually a fan of catchy Pepe because I use Parmesan on everything and I just kind of I want more flavors. Usually when I'm having a pasta like I want meats or vegetables or something not just cheese but they the pasta of this catchy Pepe was so good. Like it was a little chewy was thicker than you maybe expect from somewhere else. And then the short, short rib bowl and Daisy was also really good because of the pasta. Obviously the short rib sauce was very, very yummy. But the pasta itself was Casa recce, I think is how you say it, I could be saying it wrong, so don't come for me. But both of those were so insanely good. I wish I could have had leftovers and taking them home. And then another thing I really liked was the tomahawk steak and I'm not a huge steak person. Like generally I'm not trying to go to steak restaurants and order a steak every week. But we got that because there were so many of us. It's like a huge piece of meat, cut it all different ways. So everybody can have some there were a bunch of fish dishes too. But the steak really took it home for me it was so flavorful. And not only was the food fabulous, but the service was flawless. And after our dinner, we popped into this little secret room behind the wine cellar, which I hadn't even been there. So I didn't know this existed. And I guess it's not, not everybody knows it exists, but it's a tiny little room behind the wine cellar and there's not even enough room to sit down. It's just this like tall table you kind of stand around and they'll serve you like specialty drinks back there. And so we went back there for a drink and then followed that with our little white elephant gift exchange, which was sort of the holiday element of this birthday dinner. And then after that we popped into cat bird which I also hadn't been in and we went there for a few drinks after dinner. needless to say, it was a wild night. I wasn't feeling my best Saturday morning. But it was so much fun to try that restaurant celebrate Amy, it was really, really a fun night out. And then the next morning I woke up around like 9am and took Reese's on a walk. And we had a very strange encounter. And I wanted to share it on here. So resist is a French Bulldog, which is a breed that has been targeted in the last couple of years for being stolen and sold or held for ransom. But I live in a pretty safe neighborhood. So it's never really crossed my mind that something like that would have happened over here. But we were on a walk at like 1130 I think it was close to noon. By the time I was getting close to my house. But we were almost home, we were about a street over from my street, but not quite on my street yet. And I was on a more busy street. And there aren't a lot of front doors there. I mean, there's obviously a street sign at the end of every street, but there aren't like addresses to be looked at. Because there aren't like entrances to houses on this street. Because it's like a side street, it's not a street that the front door would back up to, I guess in the front of a house, if that makes any sense. All of the residential streets with houses are perpendicular to this street. And I say that because there's no reason for a car to have been slowing down to check in a dress or a street sign as there was literally nothing behind me in this particular spot. So anyway, back to the story. Reese's and I are walking on the left side of the street and a car heading the same direction slows way down as it passed us and then came to a complete stop. And I noticed that the man in the front seat his window was fully down. And when he pulled to a stop, he stuck his head out the window and just stared at my dog. He didn't say anything to me, which in itself is really weird. So I was sort of like a interest. And I just wasn't sure what he was doing. So I was just I just sort of stood there for a minute. And he just kept staring at her. And I just my instinct was not to walk on not to continue walking in the direction he was parked. So he was a little beyond me. We were walking and driving in the same direction. And I figured well, if he is going to try and steal my dog, I'm sure as hell not going to make it easy for him. So I cut behind his car and kind of jogged across the like behind his car across the street because I was on the left side of the street. And luckily like a neighbor's house, there was a yard right there. So I cut straight into the middle of the yard not caring whether the neighbor saw me in the middle of their front yard, but I just thought that might be easier for me to get away might make it more difficult for him to get to me catch up to me and then get the dog. I think if I'd walked right next to his car next to her Dexter, the driver's side door I would have made making it far too easy for him to just pop out and grab her. And he he the car was parked as I was walking through the yard and then he drove off. So I don't know what his intentions were. But I was totally spooked by the whole thing. Once I saw his car drive off, I picked up my picked up my pace and kind of jogged with her until I saw people on my street who were also like out walking and then I felt better. And luckily I didn't see the car again. I didn't want to of course go home and have him know where I lived. So I kept an eye out. I didn't see the car reappear anywhere but it really spooked me. And I think I also need to be clear about how close his car was to me. He pulled up like two feet in firm where I was walking. So like he was like arm's length from me when he stopped the car. It was very unusual. I had a couple of people when I posted this story on Instagram stories say he was probably just like a favor driver. He was not a favor driver. This was not a food delivery confusion. This was like this is one of those things where you just like need to trust your instincts. And I don't know about you guys, I'm certainly not a person who cares about hurting anyone's feelings if I am uncomfortable in a situation and you shouldn't be either fuck the lightness is my favorite murder says to me when he had stopped and was just staring at my dog. It seemed like he was trying to figure out if she was a French Bulldog. And if she was a puppy, I don't I mean, those are kind of specific, but like she does have interesting markings that you wouldn't necessarily normally see on a French Bulldog. So I sort of wonder if he was like trying to figure out if that's what she was or if he knew she was a Frenchie trying to figure out if she was like a puppy or like an unclipped male. I don't know, my mind was going all over the place. But I'm glad I trusted my instincts because I have seen missing Frenchie signs in my neighborhood and of course been seeing news stories about this happening all over the country. And so of course I don't want my dog taken away from me. It really freaked me out and when I took her on a walk on Sunday, my alert senses were like so heightened. I was walking in a different neighborhood at a different time. But something about that experience on Saturday made me feel so exposed and vulnerable. I carried pepper spray I carried a knife and a personal alarm thanks to my friend Alyssa who got me the birdie for Christmas. But I never was quite relaxed on our walk. And actually I held the pepper spray in my room. hand and walked races on the inside. So she was like closer to house is not as easy to spot, I guess I don't know, I was just like trying to do anything to make myself feel more comfortable on the walk. And there were a couple of cars that slowed down near me which like I got really tense, but they were probably just looking for addresses like not not the same situation at all. But like I'm like spooked by that. And I'm going to be worried about that going forward just because I never really imagined that what happened in my neighborhood, let alone in the middle of the day, like sure first thing in the morning, or I don't know, I just I felt very vulnerable in the middle of the day, which hasn't happened to me very often in my lifetime. Anyway, all that to say trust your instincts. Like I said, I'm not. I'm not entirely sure what the guy's intentions were, but I wasn't about to test it out. And I'm glad I trusted my gut in that moment. Anyway, after I recovered from the potential dog napping incident on Saturday, I met up with some of my friends at Bilbo K for brunch. It's one of our favorite spots. And it was really fun. But we also went to my friend Katie's new townhouse, which is kind of close by and it was so fun to see her new spot. And we ended up staying there for a few hours and playing a new game. Clearly, I'm into games right now. It's like, it's gonna be my new thing in 2022. I'm gonna host a monthly game night. I'm just like very into games. But the game that we played was called Let's fucking date and it's a card game by Serena Kerrigan, who to be honest, I had never heard of before. And it's apparently based the game is apparently based off of her hit Instagram Live TV show by the same name. Again, no idea who this person is. But the game was pretty fun. So I thought I'd tell you guys about it. Basically, you get four sets of cards, then they're in different bases. So like first base, second base, third base, you get it, each card has a question on it. And depending on what base you're on, the questions can get more and more personal, intimate kind of sexy questions. And none of us had played before. And we're all just friends, no romantic relationships in the room. But it was still really fun. And the questions are meant to be somewhat intrusive. So you learn quite a bit about whoever you're playing with. And I think the point of the game is to play with a love interest or someone you're dating to get to know them better. But we had a lot of fun doing the game Justice friends, it was really fun. And then later that night, I had been invited to a white elephant party at my old neighbor's new house. So these were my old neighbors from my old neighborhood. And they bought a new house like I did last year and invited me to join in on their white elephant party, which was so nice of them. And I loved getting to see their house during the holiday season. It's a beautiful home. I will say I left a little early. I started to crash at that time because I didn't get great sleep the night before. I wasn't feeling too hot after brunch and the games at my friend Katie's house, and I do feel bad. I made it. I dropped off a gift. I got to hang out for a little bit, but I kind of quietly exited before they started playing the game. I just really wasn't feeling that great. And honestly, I went right to bed at like 830 and woke up at 845 The next morning. So clearly I needed sleep. But like I said I did feel bad. So I texted her the next morning and was like I'm so sorry I ducked out early. I would love to host you guys for drinks in the new year. I just you know, I'm usually I'm usually good at like sticking with what I say. But I just was really struggling once I got to her house. So I needed to go home and get some rest. And then on Sunday, I didn't have a brunch or anything but I had two different holiday parties and originally had dinner plans with a friend who ended up asking for a raincheck which I was so appreciative of, because by the end of the day on Sunday, I was wiped out. But two different friends had holiday parties. One was a newer friend of mine kind of a mutual friend who introduced us and she lives over kind of near my old house. So that was sort of fun to go over there and meet some of her friends. And then my friend Dory always has a fun holiday party and she literally just had a baby like a week ago I'm so impressed by. But she hosted this fabulous party at her house complete with a little drummer boy it was actually a grown man but he was playing the drums at the entrance of the house and they had Santa's setup in the back for photos with all the kids there was a hot chocolate and cider bar delicious food and caring and like the most incredible holiday decor so I've really got my fill on fun holiday festivities here in Dallas. It's been a really fun couple of weeks. But like I said earlier on in the episode I'm so ready for a relaxing week and I cannot wait to just put my feet up and enjoy at my mom's house. Before I move on from my kind of Dallas weekend week recap I wanted to give y'all a report now that I got my gifts back from Mrs. Klaus concierge. So a family friend of mine I mentioned this I think in last week's episode but a friend of mine started a company called Mrs. Claus concierge where she is wrapping gifts for you during the holiday season and she offered to do that for me and I'm so happy with how they turned out I told y'all I'm not at all crafty. I'm so bad with stuff like that. It always turns out looking like shit when I do it. So she wrapped all of my gifts for me and They look fabulous. I opted for the more neutral option she had all kinds of pretty papers and ribbons and things to use but I wanted something a little more neutral and chic. And she wrapped them up she added velvet bows I mean beautiful gifts, I cannot wait to bring them home and she in addition to Christmas which has kind of already done with since it's the week of Christmas naturally she is going to be doing them throughout the season. So she'll be wrapping birthday gifts, corporate gifts and other kind of gift gift wrapping needs throughout the years. So if you are like me and are helpless when it comes to crafting and wrapping definitely reach out to Mrs. Claus concierge, and you can find her on Instagram at Mrs. CL a US DOT concierge on Instagram all right now I want to share some of the stuff that I've been watching and listening to lately. So last week, I mentioned that I'd started the attached book on audiobook and I just finished it. So I thought I'd give you a little review and my thoughts of personal kind of a reckoning here. It was certainly eye opening and in my opinion, a good book to read alongside the Five Love Languages book, which I read back in 2017 or 2018. I think I think both your attachment style and love languages come into play in relationships, especially in the beginning. And so knowing both of those is helpful for figuring yourself out and like why you think the way you do. And I think I mentioned this last week, but I do want to do a separate podcast episode on the love languages, the Enneagram test and some other personality type things. But today, I thought I'd share kind of what I learned from this book while it's still fresh in my mind. So I think in certain situations, I definitely have an anxious attachment style. I mentioned this last week, but with my college boyfriend and the boyfriend I had in Houston after college, I never had that anxious attachment style because they made it clear to me early on that they wanted to date me they called in text texted often, they made plans in advance and really never made me question their intentions or interest in me. But later on like in the last few years, I found myself in those situations where I'm feeling like I have an anxious attachment style. And after listening to this book and The Five Love Languages book, I think it's definitely a combination of both and that they're very interconnected, at least for me. For example, my top love language is quality time. So when I date a guy who doesn't make plans often or isn't as communicative between dates, I definitely start to spin out and overthink things and just assume that they're losing interest. But when my needs are being met, as in were hanging out, often they stay in pretty constant communication and contact, I don't have that anxious attachment. So it's just when my needs aren't being met, or I'm not being vocal about what my needs are. And just like assuming they'll figure it out. I do find it interesting that there's so many different books on Love Languages, attachment styles, the Enneagram different personality tests, and each of them claimed to have the answer on like how to deal with certain things. But I feel like all of these come into play when you first start dating someone and are figuring them out. All of that to say the book was definitely worth reading slash listening to just to put a name to the anxieties I felt before when dating and being able to define it makes it a little more manageable because I can at least stop the stop the anxiety when I start noticing it's happening, because it's like it only happens in these certain situations. So it's like it's not on me, it all comes down to whether my needs in terms of quality, time and communication are being met early on. And that's what causes that anxiety. So like I said earlier, I feel like I keep repeating myself, but I think the five love, five love languages and the attachment style thing are both really good to know. And I think it's helpful for when you start dating people, you can identify what their attachment styles and their love languages are and see if yours are compatible. But if they're not, it's not a deal breaker. It's just like you got to learn how to give people what they need and show people what you need so that you're giving and receiving in the way that you'd prefer to feel fulfilled. After I finished the attached audio book, I started a new one and it's called gift of fear and someone sent it to me after I shared about the potential dog napping incident on my Instagram stories. I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but it seems to be about the importance of trusting and utilizing those fear instincts we all have within us and just being more aware of the different tells that people give you if they're going to do you harm or are menacing in any way you'll be better equipped to handle and get yourself out of situations when you see those tells early in terms of TV shows I I've talked about billions a couple of times but I took a little break I'm in the middle of season four, because I was getting a little bored. And I wanted other I had other things I wanted to watch. So I kind of took a break from billions. But I ran out of things to watch recently. And so I started it back up a couple weeks ago. And Season Five is awesome. I'm loving it so far. I love Corey Stoll who plays Michael Prince. And I think I first saw him in House of Cards, but I think he's so fine. I'm not usually into bald dudes, but I find him so attractive. And Damian Lewis to that is undeniable, I just find both of them so hot, and it's great that they're both in one season together. But WAGs is definitely my favorite character. He's so funny and charming, but in like a devil may care way, I just love him, he might be one of my favorite TV characters of all time. Now, this is sort of a spoiler. So fast forward if you're watching it earlier than this, but I didn't love the romance between Wendy and Tanner, the artist in season five, because I could feel the sexual tension between Wendy and x. And I really wanted that to happen. And it doesn't look like that's going to happen this season. And I know that Damian Lewis is about to take a season off for season six, because his wife died earlier this year. And understandably, he wants to spend some time with his kids. So he is taking a season off, but I do hope he comes back and that we see them get together or at the very least hook up in season seven, because I'm just dying for that to happen. And then another show I started the other night, and I'm very confused about it. It's called station 11. And my friend Mallory recommended it to me because she and I both like very similar things. We both like scary movies, we both like things about the apocalypse, or post apocalyptic or dystopian storylines. And so she sent that to me, and it is on HBO max. And I think there are only three episodes out so far. But the whole premise felt very on brand for me, but I'm very confused about a lot of it. There are a ton of weird elements to this particular story. For example, there's a traveling symphony, what it's a little hard to follow, because it jumps around constantly in the timeline. And the parts that I like the most are the ones from like before and during the apocalypse. But a lot of what they're showing now is like obviously after the apocalypse, like 20 years later, and it's just I don't get it yet, like the traveling Symphony thing is like going on once you know, a lot of people on Earth have died. And you're just like, why are people doing this, they're just like traveling around doing performances. I don't know, I want more of like the apocalypse story, I want it to be more like The Walking Dead, where there's like more of that like of people trying to survive, not people that are like rebuilding, if that makes sense. Like I like the survival part of it. I guess I'm just confused as to where it's going. I'll report back once I see more episodes, but so far, I'm not going to recommend it because I'm very confused.
All right, so for today, I thought it would be fun to kind of look back at 2021 and share some of my favorite highlights and moments, some of my favorite purchases and various things throughout the year and call those out. And then also look ahead to 2022 and share what I'm looking forward to my goals. I don't really have resolutions, but I can just kind of talk about whatever I'm thinking about for the new year. This goes without saying but launching the podcast was definitely my most exciting moment of 2021. I love blogging and sharing content on Instagram. But there's something thrilling about venturing into a new medium and connecting with people in a different way, just like it's different than something I've been doing for the last 11 years. It's just fun to mix it up. I think it's a great supplement to what I already do. And I'm also just really excited to open it up to a wider audience beyond who follows my blog. So I'm hoping that over the next several months over the next several years all get to connect with even more people that found me through the podcast and not necessarily through my fashion blog. And I know growth takes time but I'm very happy with how things are going and I love hearing how you guys are connecting to the things that I'm sharing and appreciate you guys continuing to sport and listen and follow along on Instagram and all of that so thank you so much. Another big thing I am excited I got to do more of in 2021 is continue decorating my house obviously it takes forever to decorate a place and I did have a good amount of furniture from my old house but this house is much bigger so it's gonna take me a lot longer to decorate it but my downstairs is nearly finished which feels great because now I can entertain without having to worry it looks incomplete. I mean, as you all know, if you are decorating, everything's delayed. It took me forever to get the couches and things that I'd ordered so it's exciting to see it all come together. I still have a lot to do both inside and outside the house. So I think I mentioned this on a previous episode, but earlier in the spring, I started on the hardscape in my backyard so they added concrete and turf and tiled the patio and just cleaned up the space and so it's ready to go for like plant installations. But honestly, I couldn't afford to do both at the same time, it's a lot of money doing landscaping changes, and I'm just happy to have a clean back yard that resists can run around in I don't have to worry about her getting muddy or you know, just it's it's a lot more manageable having a yard that we can both run around in the back there and enjoy. Outside of a pandemic, I'd probably have a lot more to share in terms of travel. But I did do a couple of trips this year. So I went to Palm Beach with my mom and sister in April, which I had never been to before and absolutely loved it. I definitely want to go back. And then later on in the summer, I went to Carmel over my birthday, which was also a really fun trip. And my mom and Morris and Alexandria were there. We had a lot of great meals. And it was just a really nice relaxing trip away from the heat in Texas. And then you might remember I actually started this podcast while I was on another trip. I was in Carlsbad, which is somewhere that I've been going for years we've been going my family has been going there for decades. My grandmother owned a town or owned a timeshare there rather. And my sister and I inherited it this year. And so we we both get a certain number of weeks, I went for a full three weeks. And my sister came for the first week with my mom and stepdad. And that was really fun. And then I had Liza come out, Amy came out. And then the last week I was so low. And I had obviously already spent a lot of time at the pool and eating out and shopping. And so I had a lot of like free time on my hands and I was getting a little bored. And so I started kind of brainstorming there. And that's where I came up with the podcast idea. By the time I'd gotten back in Dallas. After that trip. I had podcast equipment on my doorstep like it was all happening while I was out there. And then more recently, I went to New York at the beginning of December, which I'm so glad I got in before you know this new variant has taken over because it was so fun to see my friends who live up there. I haven't seen them since 2019. And I had a great time shopping, eating around town and just really catching up with friends and going out. So that was a really really fun trip and I'm so glad I was able to fit that in. I thought I'd also share some of my favorite meals from the last year. I don't know if anyone cares about this stuff, but I love food. So here we go. So I already told you about the monarch earlier but one of my other favorite places to go here in Dallas is perigee literally everything on the menu is good and they do have certain specials every day. But what I really love is their carbonara when they have it so they don't always have it. It's like they do seasonal dishes and I guess that's one of their seasonal things but I really love that they have an amazing frozen French 75 cocktail. You got to get the burgers great, the salads are great. And then you cannot leave without getting the half and half dessert half is peach cobbler and half is what they call a chocolate glob which basically tastes like uncooked brownie batter in the best way like it's it's like half cooked hot and like a glob of just chocolate fudgy goodness and they're in the same plate with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle of them so you get a little bit of both It is incredible. And then another place I really love that I feel like opened mid pandemic and it's been one of my favorite new additions to my places to go is yellow lobster it's in Highland Park village. The Connecticut lobster roll is just like a classic hot buttered lobster roll so good. And then the lobster fondue fries are also insane definitely check it out. If you're looking for some more casual to dine they also have a really great brunch but highly recommend I love that place and then this isn't new by any means but Ill brocco is one of my favorite Italian places here in Dallas they have this pasta called the spicy Gemelli and it is basically pasta and of spicy vodka sauce and they top it with basil and parm you can add crispy chicken to it which I highly recommend and then other things I recommend from there are the fried artichoke appetizer and the meatballs and focaccia you've got to get those so yummy. While we're at it. I'll talk about Restoration Hardware is new rooftop restaurant. Also everything is good here it's honestly a little overpriced like all the wines are extremely overpriced but the food is really good. I particularly love the salad. So I've had the little gem salad, the Caesar salad and you can top with any kind of protein and then the if you're feeling like you want to be a little bad or eat something a little heavier, the shaved ribeye sandwich on garlic bread is out of this world. It is so good. Some of my other favorite meals this year we're at Waverly in Cardiff and California there Caesar is insane. They have these mascarpone cheese stuffed croutons literally so good. And then a really good breakfast rice bowl. They have brunch, they have lunch, they have dinner. Really cute restaurant too, but the food is so good and then market restaurant in Del Mar is always a favorite. We always go every time we go to Carlsbad. And this time I tried the fig and burrata app which was really delicious. Specifically the fig preserves on the heavily buttered brioche toast, highly recommend that. Now in terms of favorite purchases, a lot of these were dresses I guess I just I live in dresses honestly most of the time these days so one of my favorite purchases this year was a Sega designs dress I bought from Shopbop I think in January and I literally wore this every week in the spring, summer and fall. I wore it constantly. It was comfortable. It was flattering. It's a really pretty kind of blue and yellow leaf print. It has pockets it's like the perfect length on me. Like I said I wore it literally every week spring summer and fall I got so many compliments on it. It just was one of my go twos. I love Sega designs. I have a couple of other dresses from them and it's a black owned brand I first learned about in the summer of 2020 but I am now a diehard fan and want all of their dresses and then another dress that I really am excited about that I got this summer was from like pajamas. So I think this was their first launch of daytime dresses. Obviously it's a pajama company so they have a lot of like really comfy pajamas and robes and that kind of thing. But they launched two daytime dresses one was the one I got which was like a three quarter sleeve there were tie neck details like on the bodice and it was sort of it was a loose fitting kind of tiered mini dress style and then the other one they had was a sleeveless tiered mini dress style but I just fell in love with the tie front details on the mini dress and comfort is something they always get it get right but I was really impressed with the quality and fit of it as well and I wore this to death I wore it probably again every week every time I went to the dry cleaners I would pick it up clean, wear it again and then take it the next week to the drycleaners again I just wore it so much. And then another dress I was really excited about was this Giambattista volley dress that I found on major sale and Neto forte I want to say last winter I didn't really have a reason to wear it because it's definitely something you'd wear to a wedding or an evening event. It's fabulous. It's a one shoulder kind of flouncy detailed my might call it like a watermelon huge mini dress but it is perfect for a party and I got to wear it to a wedding in June but I'm thrilled to have it it's it's definitely a statement piece but as I've said on earlier episodes I love investing in like really fabulous cocktail dresses. I think even though it is a statement piece. It's a classic silhouette. It's something I'll wear again and again I'm just obsessed with it. Moving on from dresses another discover him made this year that I was really happy about is citizens of humanity Jolene jeans, so I was very late to the game with stepping away from skinny jeans, I still will wear them don't come for me but I wanted to mix it up. I didn't want to be the last person to not wear something that wasn't a skinny jeans. So I ordered a bunch of different kinds from my favorite brand which is citizens of humanity because they just look better on me than some other brands do. And I tried a bunch of styles and I bought two of the Jolien and different washes. I was so obsessed with them. I think they're very flattering especially on someone with a similar figure figure to mine. So I'm sort of an hourglass I've got a booty and hips and I really love how these fit the pockets are really big and placed a little lower on your butt and so kind of has a minimizing effect. I just I really love these jeans. So if you're looking for a good non skinny jean to mix it up, try the Jolien as far as house purchases go my coffee table was probably my favorite purchase this year. It was a custom piece by the collective which is a local Dallas design and decor shop in Lakewood that I love. I had a bit of a crisis when it came down to the stain color. When I first got it to my house it looked really light like a very kind of cooler, a lighter stain, which while beautiful, I had a lot of warm colors going on in there and it felt like it was sort of competing with my rug and you know, wasn't really the color I wanted I guess and so the collective was really really wonderful and allowed me to send it back and have it re stained and when I came back the second time I thought it was too orange and it was very worried about that but I wasn't really taking into account the entire room. I was looking at the coffee table next to the sofas in the rug and just like a very insular look at it and once I like spent some time with it, I held on to it for a few weeks just to see if I got used to it and I did and now I'm obsessed with it because it pulls in the color for my bookshelves and for my kitchen island. I just was looking so closely at the things right next to the coffee table. But I wasn't taking in the whole picture, the big picture. And it really is the perfect piece for everything that I have in that space. So I'm really glad I didn't send it back to get re stained that third time, I think this is the perfect stain for the space. And I'm so thrilled with the size of it. It's a massive piece like you cannot move it without like for people, but it's a big, it's a big seating area. So I wanted to have something that would really be useful and functional for when I'm having people over somewhere people can set their drinks, even put their feet up if they need to. And I just love that. Okay, now moving on to entertainment, I thought I'd share some of my favorite TV shows from 2021. Some of those were mayor of East town, which was on HBO Max. More recently, I watched dope sick on Hulu. I also really am liking yellow jackets, which is a Showtime show. I also really liked the undoing. I liked White Lotus. Both of those were HBO Max, and then only murders in the building was one my mom and I really, really liked and it is on Hulu as well. There were a ton of other shows that I liked that I watched, but these were probably the standouts, these were the ones I loved the most, and I watched a lot of TV this year. So I feel like that's saying something. What I realized I didn't watch a lot of were movies. And so I don't have a ton of great wrecks here. I mean, the ones that I mentioned most recently like Spencer, stylelint night single all the way. Those are like very new as of the last couple of months. So while I recommend them, I really can't. I looked back to see if there were any other movies that really popped out to me, but I guess I just didn't see that. But now let's look ahead to 2022. So I'm sharing a bonus episode later this week. And I do answer some questions on this topic. But I wanted to share a little more here since you know this is the end of your episode. So one of the things I'd love to do, at least in the start of 2022 is get back into my pre pandemic shape. And I've already talked about the sweat app a bunch, but I was doing BBG which is now called high intensity on the sweat app before the pandemic and during the pandemic. At the very beginning of like quarantine I got a peloton bike and decided to take a break from the BBG and sweat app and focus all of my efforts in the peloton stuff. And I've been doing it for like two years now and just have not been able to match the you know, progress or intensity and challenge of the sweat app with any kind of combination of any of the workouts. I've done the tread boot camps, I have done all kinds of cycling classes, I've done the hit classes, I have done the strength classes, I've done multiple stacks, there's just no way to build a progressive, challenging every more challenging every week where you really see progress, like you can in an app like the sweat app. And so a couple weeks ago, I guess not a couple it's I guess I'm on week six now, but I switched back and I'm doing a different program within the sweat app called fierce at home. And I'm already seeing progress, which is so exciting. And I'm so excited about this, I'm actually debating whether I want to do another egg retrieval right away. And I know that sounds so silly to delay it or not to do it at all. But it feels so good to finally feel like I'm getting out of the rut I was in, I really hate the idea of having to stop working out for another month and then start all the way over again. And I just I don't know, I'm just like on the fence about whether I want to do that I really want to keep on my workouts and get back to where I was pre pandemic. And then my diet is always something I've struggled with. But I don't have any specific goals other than to generally eat healthier when and where I can so less sweets, less alcohol, etc. And during the egg retrieval process, I kind of let myself go ate whatever I wanted for several weeks. And after my New York trip, I started making a few small changes about my food choices and also portion sizes. And I am noticing a difference already in that. I mean, it really doesn't take that much. You guys see what I post on Instagram on Instagram Stories what I make for lunch, that's about as healthy as it gets. But then I mean, I'm not always sharing what I'm eating for dinner or you know, the ice cream or cookies I'm getting into. That's not always I'm not putting that in the forefront. So I'm not as healthy as I come off to be sometimes on Instagram and I really want to try to be better. I just it's hard. And then sort of in the same vein in terms of health and diet, I really need to slow it down with alcohol. So it's been a busy few weeks, and I feel like I've been drinking every night which is way more than I'm used to drinking at all. I generally am more of a social drinker on the weekends and typically avoid alcohol during the week because I don't like it to mess up my routine. I like to work out every day and the past few weeks with New York and with all of these fun festivities for the holidays. I've been drinking every night which is just like too much for me. And so I need to reel it in and I think I'm going to do a little bit of a detox I'm not going to do like dry January but I'm definitely going to take a step back and try to old I drink when I'm out with friends on the weekends and avoided during the week. So wish me luck with that workwise I'd obviously love to grow the podcast, I definitely want to start having guests in 2022 I'd like to start advertising and just generally keep up the momentum to continue to grow it starting a new venture like this can be scary and exciting, but I'm really hopeful about how things are going. And I hope everything continues on a positive trajectory into the new year. In addition to that, I'd love to maintain and continue growing my blog and my instagram i I'm very happy with how things have been going there as well. I'm about 10,000 away from 100,000 followers on Instagram, which I feel like I have been waiting for for gears. So maybe this will be my this is kind of a random goal, but I thought I'd share. So one thing I'd like to start doing in 2022 is getting out of the house more regularly during the work week. I'm obviously way more productive working at my desk in my house. But I get so caught up in my routine that by the weekend, I'm just like starved for human interaction and like need to get out and it stresses me out. So in the new year, I'd like to start working from Park house once a week or a coffee shop, maybe plan more luncheons, lunches and dinners with friends during the week. I just want to add more social stuff to my calendar during the week. So I don't feel as stressed about making weekend plans. And then like, you know, stressing if they fall through, that would be great. I also think doing stuff like that will put me in more of a position to meet new people make new friends maybe meet new guys you just never know. And then this is sort of random, but I'd love to start hosting a game night. So learning mahjong and Mexican dream dominoes during Thanksgiving has really inspired me to play games where regularly I love game night and I just kind of want to do more of it. So I'm obviously doing my Xiong. And I'll probably continue doing that once a month and would love to establish games with different people. I think that'd be so fun. But then I'd also just love to host like a random game night, every month or every other month to play things like Mexican dominoes or some other game that we can come up with maybe cards, maybe Scrabble, whatever it is, I have so many games, but I just love that and think it would be fun to start a tradition where we get together and do that once a month or something. Obviously, traveling more would be great. I I obviously can't make any plans with the pandemic as is I love to go back to London in the fall of restrictions ease up a bit. But I'm honestly perfectly content at home here in Dallas. So I'm not in a huge rush to go anywhere. But I definitely want to get back to traveling as soon as that seems like a good option. And then the final thing I wanted to share. So lately, I've really been working on self improvement. I'm not just talking about like making healthy choices and working out, most of the podcasts I listen to are for entertainment value, I'm sure that's true of most most of you guys, too, whether it's like Bravo, or true crime, or whatever it is. But over the last few months, I've started incorporating more content into my weekly routine, that's more kind of self help isn't right. But it's more than just like learning things, and self improvement and that kind of thing. And I'm listening to things on so many topics. So whether that's learning to let go of things, I can't control, establishing better habits, how to be a better friend, I'm listening to a lot of things and we'll certainly share anything I find interesting or helpful along the way. But I just I want to do more of that I really, you know, as I get older I'm I make mistakes I'm learning I'm you know, just trying to be a better person. So doing some of that if the two here. And then I also started seeing a therapist for the first time in a few years. And I'm looking forward to continuing that consistently in the New Years. So hopefully I'll start seeing some of the benefits come from that of you know, opening myself up and having someone I can chat with who's unbiased about anything going on in my life, but generally just like self of self improvement, I'm trying to just like be a better person.
Alright guys, we've made it to the beck and call segments. So at this time, I will answer a couple of listener questions that you guys submitted either via voicemail at 214-620-0473. Or you can submit questions via email to info at beck and call podcast.com. Let's get into the first voicemail.
Hi, Merritt. My name is Janet and I just finished the podcast for Liza talks about her engagement was a sweet, wonderful story and she's so happy and excited. But I was struck with the same thought I've had over the last few years as I've watched my own daughter and many of her friends get engaged. Why is it still the norm that a woman needs to wait to be asked? By just a man get to decide with my daughter and her friends. These are all strong, independent, confident young women with good careers and her own bank accounts, most of them already have established a life together by living together first, and several of them already own homes together. But they were still waiting for the man to decide. And some of them waited quite a long time. We as women have come so far, but on this issue, it seems like we have it, that we're not any further ahead than we were when I got engaged, or my mother got engaged when my grandmother got engaged. So why is that? Is it the need for the moment? Wanting to have a story to tell about the moment? Is it the romance, a little bit of the Cinderella stuff? I'm just curious what you and women your age might think about this. Thanks. And I look forward to your podcast dropping every week.
While I can totally appreciate your point of view and agree that society's expectations of women should change. Like I agree with all of that, I do think it's a little reductive of you to assume that all women who are waiting to get engaged, one have no active participation in this engagement that they're just like waiting around, when I think most of the time, they've probably already had many conversations with their, you know significant other about it and like have a plan. So like, I can't speak for any of my friends or for Liza. But I do know that some of those people went ring shopping with their boyfriends, or have talked about marriage and children. And it's not like a surprise. They're not just like waiting around. And I also think it's a little reductive to place the blame on the women and assume that everyone who's waiting to get engaged is just waiting for a Cinderella moment. I don't think that's why most people want to get engaged. I think people want to get engaged because they're in relationships with people they love. People also really want to start families. Is that something to judge women for wanting to do at any certain age? I don't think so. I personally think people should be able to do whatever they want, whether that's focused on their careers, or if they want to get married right out of college, there's no right or wrong way to live. I don't care what year it is or what century we're living in. And like I said at the beginning, I'm I totally get what you mean, in terms of like, Why aren't things different, but it sounds based on what you said, it kind of sounds like you're putting the blame on the women. And I think that's unfair, considering that it's society that's put all these pressures on us to begin with, and that it's a little reductive to assume that anyone who's wanting to get engaged is just not at all involved in the process, and that they're just waiting around to have this Cinderella moment and not considering that maybe they're just like madly in love with the person they're with and want to start a family. I think there are many reasons people are in relationships and want to get married. And I think it's only a very small percentage of people who do that, who are only in it for the ring are only in it for the wedding and the party. My point is we need to be showing women that any way they choose to live their life is okay. You want to pursue a career and only do that and never get married. That's great. If you want to get married young and start a family at 25 Go for it. Just because we're trying to break from the bonds of like our societal pressures does not mean that wanting to get engaged, wanting to get married and have a family is any less valuable than pursuing a career and being at the top of your game there. Both are valuable things. And both should be, you know, celebrated. Now, as far as the tradition of it all about like the man having to ask, I mean, I don't really have an answer for that. But that's just kind of what people have always done. And I don't know if that's going to change anytime soon. And I personally don't see that tradition is a bad one asking for a woman's hand in marriage. Now I do totally understand what you mean by women should not be putting their lives or careers or whatever on hold just for the possibility of marriage. But I also want to reiterate, there's nothing wrong with a desire to get married. There's nothing desperate or weird about that or outdated. Marriage has value. Anyway, I hope that wasn't too harsh. And I do agree with some of the things you're saying. But I just want to urge you to think about it kind of in a in the bigger picture scheme of things if you want to be supporting women and allowing them to do whatever they want, if what they want is to get engaged and get married. There's nothing wrong with that.
Okay, this next question was an email submission and it's a much lighter question. So it'll be a good way to finish out the episode but someone asked, Can you share your favorite swimwear brands and yes, I'm happy to do so. So I have a long torso and I'm also curvy. I've got like Double D boobs, I've got a but I've got hips, not that hips really come into play with swimwear, but because I'm tall, I am often looking for one pieces with a long torso. And those are actually kind of hard to find ones that don't like right up your ass. And the ones that I've really liked lately have been Karla Coletto, which is honestly very pricey. I think most of the swimsuits are like 250 to 300 and They're really high quality. I can say that I have several of her suits now and like I wear them repeatedly every year they hold up really well but they are expensive if you're looking for something a little less expensive but still not cheap. Trina Turk has a lot of really good one pieces and generally are long enough for me but not all of them. Some of them fit a little shorter. If you don't need a lot of support. I know the Hunza G brand is really popular. I do have one of their suits, but it's just not that supportive for my large chest. But they're really comfortable. I do have one of those. And then a brand I really want to try I actually have two brands I want to try this year one is Jade swim, which is a black owned brand that I've been seeing a lot over the last year and a half and I love all the colors they do. They have a good mix of neutrals and bright colors and they do a lot of different shapes too and mix and match kind of pieces. So I'm going to look for those when I start shopping for swimwear at some point. I'm not at all ready to do that. Maybe later on in the spring I'll do that that I'd also love to try somersault which I've never tried before, but I've heard great things and they're more budget friendly. So if you're in need of some good budget friendly swimwear, that's also cute and seems high quality definitely check out somersault. Alright guys, that's it for this week's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And just a reminder, I do have a bonus episode coming out later this week. That is all q&a questions. In the meantime, I hope you guys have a wonderful merry Merry Christmas and please be sure to rate review, subscribe and share the podcast I especially love seeing when you guys post about the podcast on Instagram stories and tag at beck and call podcast on Instagram. I love seeing that and you can also follow along and see my adventures in Austin while I'm way over the break at Merritt Beck and I will catch you guys later this week and next week. Bye!
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