Derek Horn
Welcome back to In These Uncertain Times, a podcast about creating and connecting in the midst of uncertainty. I’m your host, Derek Horn.
On this special holiday episode, my BFF Lucy joins to chat about how she is helping small businesses find their voice in the era of COVID, how she started a quarantine venture that’s as beautiful as it is delicious, and we wrap up with a conversation about the importance of giving during the holidays and especially this year. We also have some fun playing a game about Bad Christmas movies, which are a favorite vice of ours.
Lucy Tomkiewicz (she/her) is an Art Director for OUTFRONT Media’s Colorado branch, where she builds out campaigns & marketing solutions for mostly small business and the local community. In quarantine, she began baking, filling, and intricately painting the tops of French macarons - and more recently selling them under "FromLu" on Instagram. Lucy is also a loving mother to Maple, one of the cutest dogs on the Earth.
Hi, Lucy. Welcome to In These Uncertain Times. How are you?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
I'm doing all right. How are you? Derek? My darling.
Derek Horn
I am ok, I'm officially on Christmas break. So that feels great.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah. A big relief.
Derek Horn
Yes. This year is finally coming to an end. So to get started, can you please introduce yourself to listeners in your own words?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Sure. Um, Hey, folks. Yeah, I'm long-time best pal of our darling host, Derek. Best Woman at his wedding. Forthcoming soon, hopefully. So I work for a company called Outfront media. I'm an art director in Colorado. And I just develop campaigns and out of home or marketing needs social media and mobile, kind of the whole gambit. And we usually work with small businesses, local companies, just help them grow and really figure out what message they want to say. And do it in a way that looks nice and is efficient. Yeah, it's really fun. And more recently, I bake, paint and sell macaron cookies. That's a quarantine development.
Derek Horn
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's great. I am excited to talk to you because you're one of the first guests that I had that have started a new venture during the quarantine. I think that that's such an interesting aspect of this year as how many people have taken on new things or tried things out, they might not have had the time to explore before. So excited to chat about that, and a little bit here. So how his COVID forced you to adapt your day-to-day process? for work? And what is your current Workstation or workplace look like? And as I evolved at all this year?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, I mean, definitely, right, I think we're lucky enough that we work in an industry advertising, design, etc, that is pretty versatile in where you can work and how we communicate Anyway, um, but I do think we, I mean, my company, we all we shut down in March, and everybody went home work from home. And it's pretty much been that since. And I'm, I'm very lucky to have a partner who is insanely supportive and kind and sweet. And who also works from home right across for me, we work on a big desk, our monitors face back to back, and then we will kind of pop up to talk to each other. Show each other, like a funny meme, and then just keep working. Um, so it's been, I'm grateful to have him as a support system for us to rely on each other.
But as an office as a whole, I think we've kind of moved, it's kind of forced us to get a little bit more modern in our processes and really fine tune. And, yeah, kind of modernize who we are and how we communicate. Because I think when you're in an office, and you see people every day, it's kind of easy to fall into processes that might not be as efficient as they should be. But they've been in place for so long, so you might as well just do them. So I think it's kind of forced us to look at the way that we communicate and even with clients, you know, like, it's all Zoom meetings, which actually increases the amount of clients that I've had to talk to, which is great. But I think it's kind of helped streamline to because as much as I love to socialize, I hate small talk. And in many offices, especially my office, we are sales oriented. So it's the small talk kind of gets repetitive and annoying. So it's been nice to just like, we get to the point, and my co-workers know that I like to just get to the point and not beat around the bush. And like, Don't tell me "hi you're doing a great job. Could I have a favor?" It's like, No, just tell me what you need. So I think it's helped us yeah, just communicate better. And we use Teams constantly now, instead of like, emailing back and forth or calling each other and stuff, I think Teams and that just kind of quick communication has helped a lot. That way.
Derek Horn
Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's interesting because I think in some ways, it has forced us to do away with some of the, the fluff, I guess you could call it of our communication. But at the same time, it's kind of, at least in my experience required at least over communication of certain things. So it's like not necessarily communicating more or less It's maybe just differently, and it might just take a little bit more energy to do some of that communication just because it is, you don't have that luxury of being able to lean over to so and so and be like, "Hey, can you send me this?" It's like he gotta either open up an email or an IM or whatever.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
I think it's forced us to, like becoming more specific in what we need, you know, so, yeah, just Yeah, fine-tuning that process of, "Hey, this is what I need. And this is how I need it. Ask questions about it if you have them" instead of kind of like pandering or, Yeah, I think it's, it's helped with that, I think, yeah, it sucks not to like see people constantly have that camaraderie. Because, yeah, that's just that's part of the human experience. We all want to talk to people and socialize, but not when we could die! Not with a global pandemic, folks!
Derek Horn
So how would you say that the needs of your clients have changed this year? Have you noticed anything? I mean, I know at this point, we have over nine months of this under our belt, so there, there is time in there to kind of new things that pop up and change and stuff. So what has that journey been like with them?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
I think it's been it's been interesting. Um, because I think obviously, in the beginning of all this, I think most clients kind of froze up, and were pretty freaked out. Because nobody knew how long we still don't really know how long this is gonna last and it's really difficult when you're working with small businesses, especially, and they're giving you all of their marketing dollars, it is hard for them to justify that when they've got a lot of other shit to deal with. Can I is guys swear?
Derek Horn
Please, go right ahead.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Great. Good. But yeah, it's just like, they've got it, they've got so much other shit to handle, that sometimes marketing does take a backseat. And that's 100% understandable. So that's been interesting. But I think it has also been interesting. As we got more into, like the late spring and summer, there was a kind of a shift where clients were still like, okay, we know that we are, we're still open. We still if we want to continue doing business, marketing does have to go along with that we can't just not do anything and expect customers and people to come to patronize our business. So it's, I think that's been interesting. And it has been I mean, we work with a lot of local restaurants, like distilleries, breweries, etc. And it's, yeah, it's been a lot of just shifting language, right. And a lot more community focused a lot more like, "Hey, we do take out a delivery, we're still open." A lot of community messaging too. So not even marketing for themselves.
Just a lot of like, "Hey, stay safe. wear a mask," that kind of language, especially that we saw like rolling out in the beginning. But I think yeah, I think it'll be interesting. Seeing how some of our clients evolve after this, too, because, yeah, everyone's systems are shifting. And they're realizing, hey, we can like trim the fat in this section. And we don't need maybe we don't even need to have dining inside. Like maybe we don't even need to have an actual physical location where people can go, we're just a delivery restaurant. Yeah, it's really interesting seeing all that and I'm, like, even, we work with some like HVAC, just like home improvement. businesses, and a lot of them are shifting to like COVID cleaning and sterilization programs. So like, if an office is opening back up, this group of folks will go in and clean those. So it's been interesting, kind of like trying to navigate that and also trying to make sure every the messaging isn't stale. Because if everyone's saying the same thing, then it's just like, what even are we talking? Like, why even pay attention
Derek Horn
Have you had clients dictate that they want "in these uncertain times" messages?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
No, no, no "uncertain time". Some "unprecedented time". That's been that's been some language or like "2020 is a bit of a weird year". And it's like, weird is Yeah, it's Yep. It's been weird. That's for sure. So like some. Yeah, it's interesting, seeing how everybody approaches, and like what language they choose. That's been really interesting. Or if they even choose to acknowledge it at all, too, right? Some people are just business as usual, you know? Which is also very interesting.
Derek Horn
Now I know a lot of the stuff you do is out of home advertising. So like the big the big billboards, like on the highway and things like that. Have you noticed clients wanting to invest their dollars in other platforms? Or is that something that's still very much alive and well? What is that been like?
Yeah, so we get reporting, literally every week of traffic counts. And that's been consistent. For me, like literally every week we're tracking it. Um, so it, it has been interesting seeing like, the ebbs and flows in it. And in the beginning, obviously, it was less, but it wasn't as low as we thought it would be, like we out of home is kind of having, it's having like a moment, or and it has been over the past couple of years because it's just becoming more like pop culture is using it more celebrities take photos in front of their billboards. It's always kind of in everyone's mind's eye. And I think, yeah, it's been interesting seeing how COVID has affected that. But most clients are pretty, like, still pretty down to just go with out of home, traditional out of home, digital, mobile, mobile has gotten a lot more popular, which makes sense.
And we get real targeted in those campaigns. So we know where you are, and where you're going and what you've done so it's it's really fascinating But it's really cool just seeing how people are adapting and out of home is not like a direct to purchase platform. Like that's right, how it should be used. It's a branding and awareness and voice platform. And a lot of it's just subliminal, you know? Traffic really weirdly hasn't changed too much. Some of our markets, like our market right now, in Denver or in Colorado as a whole, we've done better this year, in this fourth quarter than we did last year, which is fascinating. Yeah. Q1 wasn't great. But the rest of the quarters really picked up because people realize they still have to be part of the community. Right, be seen and to be remembered. You have to put yourself out there,
Derek Horn
I mean, I think especially now as people kind of, in many ways blown up their entire way of life this year, and have to rearrange and rebuild, and it's like, Okay, I think any any company or any brand or business, it's like it kind of totally got to be like, "Hey, we're still here," or "Yeah, Hey, I know, I knoe that you might want to come see us or eat with us or buy stuff from us. But things are a little different now. And here's the way we're doing things" because I know that that is every like a there's a lot of definitely trends of like the outdoor dining, at least here in New York, or takeout and things like that, that are kind of widespread, but at the end of the day, it's like, so many of these things have come down to business per business protocol on how they respond. So I think that is kind of an interesting thing to see how, one, what those protocols are for each business and two, how they're communicating that to people. That's that's been interesting as well.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, yeah. It's bit yeah, it's I'm so curious just what will happen in the after times, after all of this what habits will businesses bring with them? Because I know New York is there setting like outdoor dining is permanent now. Is it not right or is it almost semi-permanent?
Derek Horn
Yeah it is, which is interesting, because I know I know that that's like, a big part of like, some cities in Europe like their culture is very big scene of outdoor cafes and things. And I'm just interested to see how that New York shifts into that knowing how kind of carefully designed the city is a grid system just for like, pure transport. I know that they shut down a lot of the roads and stuff for that outdoor dining and just general ease of people being able to walk or bike or whatever around.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, they've done that in like all the cities in Colorado, pretty much like even in Salida, this small town, I'm in right now visiting my Pops. Yeah, they shut down the Main Street. So then they get out dining in the streets. And then there's a lot of galleries in town too. So like galleries have moved, they'll move artwork outside for display to so then people aren't cramped in a small gallery. But it's a very, like arts-based community. So it's real tough when you don't have as much tourism coming through as you normally would. Especially in the summer, because that's what the city thrives on.
Derek Horn
This may be a little bit of a tangent. But yeah one thing that has completely escaped me is how a lot of these small restaurants in New York have like built these outdoor spaces for the winter that end up being literally like another building? And like, get me wrong, I like I totally feel for those small businesses, especially now it's getting snowy around. And like we just had a snowstorm this past week, and they had to like adapt their outdoor setups now that now that indoor dining is officially closed for the foreseeable future, I totally respect the challenges and I don't I don't envy their position to have to deal with that. But I look at some of these upper structures that are just like boxes. And some of them seem to have like pretty poor ventilation and I don't know
Lucy Tomkiewicz
it's just like a house...
Derek Horn
Right and like no, no, like, airflow opportunity besides be like, small entryway. I don't know it's very bizarre to me and I personally, I've only been out to eat a couple times. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've been out to eat this year, like at a restaurant. But even if it's like completely open, it's just made me anxious so I can't imagine going and sitting in one of these little boxes.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, I saw some headline that was like, when does outside become inside again? Yep, yep. When does that happen? What's the line there , because... I dont know.
Derek Horn
Yeah, like I give them props for their ingenuity and like the design of some of these like they've had like I've seen a couple of them they have like legit like curtains and like they look like pretty like decent interiors, but I don't want to go out and get Coronavirus just so I can eat some chips and guac outside.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, no. I mean Jeff and I do a lot of cooking at home and anyway, but we don't I don't think I've gone to a restaurant. Yeah, since like February. Yeah.
Derek Horn
Step up and give people money so they can continue operating and paying their employees but that's another conversation Entirelu Yeah. Oh gosh... So you as we mentioned at the top you have started a new quarantine endeavor this year, which is baking macarons. What made you to decide to start that
Lucy Tomkiewicz
You know, I think it's it was just kind of, like quarantine energy. So yeah, I like to do a lot of different projects and creative things, so like embroidering, painting etc. and I was in kind of like a rut just a creative run during you know, during spring and the beginning of summer and just kind of like we're here we're in this I don't know what to do with myself. I don't know what to do with my time. I live close to a really nice park in Denver, but it that park is has been exploding with people and lots of people not wearing masks.
So yeah. fewer opportunities to actually be outside, and then all the mountains in Colorado are burning, we had some of the worst wildfires and the longest burning wildfires in Colorado that literally, they just kind of slow down because of snow. And that's how they stop. There's no other way to stop them. As much as the efforts of firefighters and yeah, been going for months, but it was just kind of like we're kind of stuck. So you can't go into the mountains can't really hang out outside. Can't see anybody, obviously. So. And I've been playing around with baking macarons for a long time, for a couple of years. And they are notoriously difficult cookies. They're like, why? Why even try? like they're not even there, they're one and I do enjoy being a little sadistic and torturing myself to make something good. And taking that challenge. So it's, it's a, it's a challenging cookie that you have to be present for also.
So it's kind of a big anxiety overthinker. So that the process of making them and going through like recipe after recipe and adjustment after adjustment and really fine-tuning a product that one I can give to people. And that is that would be kind of respected like on a patisserie level. So they take a really long time to make. And the technique is where, what it comes down to in making them. And I started just making them for me and Jeff, and then like one, one of the one other friend that I'd seen a couple times over the months. And it was a Saturday in August. I live in Colorado. So there are substances that are legal here. And I was it was just like a Sunday where it was like, Alright, what are we going to do this weekend? What are we going to do? What how are we going to fill our time that won't? That will make me feel better. So yeah, I made some macrons and then just decided to paint them. I don't even know why I'm not sure where that came from. But I love painting landscapes and this is honestly kind of bored of painting on paper and embroidering landscapes. And I've gotten a lot of new materials and painting stuff over quarantine just to have something to do like maybe get something new to do. But it was just kind of bored. So I looked up if you could paint on macrons and not many people do. It's kind of weird. Especially a landscape on the top up on like a one and a half-inch canvas. But I just started doing it. And it was really peaceful. And another thing where you kind of just have to be in the moment, because they are so small. So every brushstroke counts.
Derek Horn
Do you use oil or acrylic on them?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Ha.
Derek Horn
I kid. And this is an audio format. So obviously there aren't any visuals here. But when when when Lucy says she paints the macrons I like you need to understand that like actual mini landscapes on these cookies. It's not like she's painting and cute little hearts are like a star and just leaving it at that they're like actual mini works of art and are pretty incredible. And if there's anything I know, I know about Lucy in the nearly 10 years that I know her is that she is always up for a challenge and is prone to torturing herself in many ways. So yes, starting with this, this notoriously difficult cookie. And then painting on top of that is very characteristic of you in the best way possible. Yeah. No, I think that it's just like, it's just a beautiful combination of your best talents.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Thanks. Yeah, I think a big reason why you don't see a lot of intricately painted ones is literally just because the cookie takes so long and it's right. It's almost pain-inducing a lot of people there's a Reddit go on all the time. That's just called macrons. And people it's Yeah, you'll just see it's a lot of trial and error and baking them and then the decorating and filling is really fun and that's a big creative part too, the filling because you get to play around with flavors. And I try to make everything from scratch. So like the jam everything so then it's a very like pristine, great product. Yeah.
Derek Horn
Nice. Seems like there's a lot of a lot of opportunities for the macarons to go maca-wrong. Nailed it. What are your favorite flavors that you've baked?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Well, I just made a new one that you you're receiving in the mail?.I shouldn't have reveal it. But you are. But it's okay. Because you get a bunch of other ones. But fluffernutter. So if no one knows, it's a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich. I think it is more East Coast than anything else. I think it's a very East Coast thing. But actually my old field hockey coach, who I haven't spoken to, in years, actually ordered some macrons. And her tradition on snow days is to make a fluffernutter is just like a cute trick that she's always had. So I made some for her and I, that they're delicious. And it's cute and nostalgic. But it's a it's a nice little juxtaposition of like, a very meticulous French cookie. And childhood - fluffernutter it's Yeah, it's I love it. It's cozy. And brings you right to a memory, you know?
Derek Horn
I love that. And I think that that is a really cool juxtaposition of those two different types of food. And I think in general, like the idea of painting on these very tiny cookie and that when you eat them, they'll be gone in like a matter of seconds. I think we have something really cool too, that just as kind of like ephemeral, like, it's only here for a moment type thing. And meant to be enjoyed kind of right now, just I think that like, in many ways, and for better or for worse, I know that our current technology allows us to do so many things people never would have imagined before, but it's like, I think we kind of take things for granted, be it the memories themselves where we're so caught up in capturing them on our phone, taking pictures, taking videos, or like going to a concert or a museum and just kind of like Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, rather than kind of being present in the moment and taking things in for what they are. I think that that's it. Maybe it sounds corny, but I think that that's really cool that you're creating a little beautiful moment for people.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, yeah, it just reminds me of like in art school, we are taught nothing is precious. No art, no design, no idea is precious. So that's also why it's just like, there's no permanence to it at all. It's a cookie, it's meant to be consumed in a timeframe too, because you don't want it to go bad. You don't want it to go stale, right? Do you have to eat it? And it will be delicious. And just enjoy it for what it is. And yeah, move on. Take that moment and then buy some more if you really like them, but. But like, it's just yeah, it feeds that part of me that I think in our line of work, especially when we're working with clients, who their campaigns are usually pretty precious to them, you know, their ideas and their business is precious to them, which is great. And I want to honor that with everything I do. But sometimes, you know, we can get into the nitty-gritty, we can get it get a little bit in the weeds with thinking about the details. And it's stepping back and just being like "nope, there is no like deeper meaning behind this right." It's just a cookie that has a painting on the top and you're gonna eat it and that's all it's gonna happen. Like there's no other thing and hopefully, it'll bring you joy. Hopefully, you like it. Yeah, but that's the point.
Derek Horn
I love that. I love having beautiful things in your life. And in some in many cases for the sake of having beautiful things in your life. I know I know for me, this maybe sounds a little out there. But for me, for some reason, some of the things you're saying, reminds me of my tattoos actually, when some people will come up to me and be like, oftentimes, sometimes complete strangers or people I don't know super while they're like, "Oh, what's that one mean?" And like, I have like that if you haven't seen my arms before, I probably have like, I'm up to, I think, like, a dozen or so tattoos now. Some of them have meetings, some of them don't. Some of them are just beautiful pieces that I really liked. Yeah. And I like looking at it. And I think that one, even if this does have some super deep meaning. It's like, I don't know if I want to talk about that right here with you. Two, sometimes not, not always.
But sometimes the tone is like, almost like I need to plead my case to justify that my attack shoe and it's like, no. It's like, I don't need to explain this or justify it to anybody. Like I said, it's like having something beautiful for the sake of having something beautiful. I think that like, so much of being a creative person is finding that balance between, like you said, we both do on our day jobs where you have to solve these tangible business problems for our clients, that might not always align with our personal tastes, or we might get directives that we might not personally love. But we're also supplementing it with other creative things that are pure expressions of creativity, or just adding beauty to the world, which is it's a cool balance to find in life. And it is a journey. And nobody, I don't think anybody has mastered the perfect balance. But it's interesting to think about.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah it's been really nice to see so many people like what I've been making, because it is something I think it's been a long time. Because even through college, we did not make projects for ourselves. We do projects for our professors to give us good grades and give us good reviews. That's how we played it. So I think it's, it's, it's been a project that's just been, oh, this is something that I can do for me that I really enjoy that other people appreciate and enjoy. And it yeah, it doesn't have to be anything with a with a higher meaning. It's just like, it's just like when you get, like, I just got this sweatshirt that I love that I absolutely love. And it's tiedyed by a local lady in Denver. And it's just it's pretty, it's soft, and it makes me happy. It's pastel, but it's just yeah, I think, especially through quarantine. Mm-hmm.
Because we have had such lack of social interaction and gathering or even just like, I miss going to music concert, like live concerts and live comedy shows so much. That is such a big part, especially in the summer, such a big part of my lifestyle. So when you don't get to necessarily have that kind of beautiful thing that you get to take in, or just the beauty of like, I miss living in New York and just walking around, seein' all the people, just walking around by myself for a day, and just like taking the subway to some, like some neighborhood and walking around, like six hours. Um, and when you kind of have that lack of beauty in your day to day life, where you just can't really take a moment to pause because you're always in your house or like battling people in a grocery store. You have to figure out what beautiful things you want to appreciate. So whether it's like, ordering comic books that you've wanted for a long time, and you're finally getting them or like this sweatshirt. I've loved this lady's work for a while and now she had Black Friday sale, so I swiped stuff up. Or it's just making macarons and sending them to people that you love. Because we can't be together for the holidays. Or hey, I'm literally just thinking about you hear some yummy things to enjoy. Because yeah it sucks. And not seeing my beautiful friends. This years. I wanted to hug and just see my friends.
Derek Horn
I know. That's been the hardest part. I think for me, like, I like you. I'm grateful to have a great supportive partner, Joey, and our puppy Luna but it's like I was actually just thinking earlier back to March and April, you were originally supposed to come to New York in April. I was looking forward to that trip for a while because it had been at this point, I think it's been like over a year and a half that I haven't seen you in person, which is very sucky. But it's just wild thinking back to those early days. And we're kind of like in March back when we thought, “oh it’s going to be a couple of weeks that we're going to be staying at home".” And like, there was a small window where we're like, "well, maybe we'll wait and see. Maybe you can still come." And then... nope.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, nope. Nine months later. Ten months later, whoa. Yeah, that was nuts. And I had planned on coming like to New York, at least once I'd planned on coming it like twice, maybe three times just to come hang out. Um, but yeah, we're not gonna have that for a while. And that's okay. You know, because we might obviously much rather, everyone be safe, but it does just suck. When you don't get to see the people that you love. Especially like, I love my family. But, um, as cheesy as it is like, your chosen family is usually people that you've really, really fucking Miss. And like that you just want to you just want to like flop around do nothing. Yeah, during like, mimosas and waffles and pet dogs, like, just the simple life. Yeah, just stuff that I missed that. Yeah, we we don't know when it will come back. Or if it'll ever be the same, really? Or at least for long term. You know, like, I'm sure in like, five years, 10 years. things. We had no clue what It'll look like, but it will be different.
Derek Horn
Yeah.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
But it is hard when it's so difficult to picture the future, you know, like to visualize? Okay, you know, because it's so much of our day to day, especially when you're working like a nine to five, when you're working a normal job. A lot of motivation comes from the fact that Oh, you have a trip coming up, or I you get to see these friends and it's like, oh, all this ridiculous work was worth it, because then I get to spend the money that I made working on this thing, or seeing these people are doing this thing and yeah, that sucks. When it's just kind of like, Huh, okay, okay, we I even like movies, something as simple as going to the movies. That's not something that I've done all year, probably since January. And I knew you and Joey love going to the movies. And hopefully next year, it will get a little brighter with new leadership and vaccine vaccines rolling out. And people really, I think, once we hit the year mark on this thing, it'll it'll be that like, okay, let's take stock of what changes have been made. Let's figure out how we're moving forward. Because we all have, we all know that we can adapt to this, like, we know that we can adapt, but it's just where does that put us in like two years?
Derek Horn
Right. And I think that a lot of this year, has been about letting go of what we thought would be certain in general, just with the pandemic itself blew all that up. But also learning to sit with we don't know what's gonna happen next week, next month, next year. Because I think in the beginning, at least, we thought it was gonna be "okay, we're gonna go home for two weeks, and then come back to work and it'll be fine." And just because this is so out of the frame of reference of anything that is really happened within our lifetimes, it's like, we're used to being able to look to our leaders, to look to our bosses, to look to other people to be like, "Hey, tell us what's up. What do I need to do and when is this gonna be over with," but this is one of the first times that that wasn't possible. And I think even I mean, I think there's been throughout there where is this is gonna be done by the summer the fall, whatever and then that I think that like, the more, the more the goalposts have shifted or disappeared, it's more we have to sit with that and be like, you know what, we don't know exactly how it's gonna play out. But we can take steps to I'm sure it'll come sooner rather than later.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
And the interesting thing that people that also don't consider any of that live their lives as they normally would, in our, in our, in our are not just like able but are traveling and making other choices that are that are questionable. That like, just because you can does it doesn't mean that you should Does it mean that you should be? Like, yeah, it's
Derek Horn
Yeah. And a word of advice if you're gonna do it like, you don't have to advertise. You don't need to tell on yourself. Because Yeah, don't don't get if you're, if you're doing stupid things in your posting about it, like, know that there are people looking at it and being like, are you really doing this?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
And I'd say, Yeah, like, if you are trying to consider whether you're gonna travel somewhere or not, look at the people that you like, most respect, whether it's in pop culture or wherever, how, what are they doing? Who are the people that you admire the most? What are they doing? And how are they approaching this? And, I don't know, mimic that if you if you're if people that you admired, doing something different if they're, if they are, you know, sad, even if they are able to travel or go places, and they have the money and the means to do things. But they aren't that should that should send a message and tell you that, hey, maybe don't or Hey, don't tell everybody that you're doing something that is endangering other people. Because once you put that out there, and other people start thinking it's okay,
Derek Horn
It creates that permission structure for other people to loosen up as well.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Just like our president did with racist and fascist and everything anyway. But it's fuckin' true and yikes.
Derek Horn
When so much of our life is inside and like you're saying, it's like so much of our lifestyle is dependent on kind of these experiences and activities and connecting with other people. What are some ways that you've tried to stay present and kind of true to yourself when you're confined to the four walls of your home?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Um, it's a tough one. Because, yeah, um, Jeff and I talk to our dog a lot. You know, I'm a naturally silly human. And I'm lucky where my partner's also very naturally silly and goofy. So it's, it's a lot of cooking and baking. That's pretty much what my weekends are now it's just cooking, baking, doing something. And to keep it kind of light, and not as like heavy. Just watching shitty TV, just bad TV. I rewatched Gossip Girl, which is a terrible television show. And that just, it's, it's just so funny how high their stakes are for the stupidest things. And like, I watched watching a lot of cooking reality shows. I watched Ink Master. Don't recommend, don't recommend that show. Lots of misogyny on there.
Derek Horn
Is that a tattoo thing?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, it's a it's a tattoo competition show. And they put the first two seasons on Netflix from like, 2012 or so real rough time and in men's clothing, and really ugly tattoos. And, and, yes, were massage and he was allowed to be televised, and everyone was on board. And so that's been that was fascinating to watch. But it's just been like, trying to keep it light. Because it's very easy to get bogged down in your brain, especially when we're looking scrolling, social media, listening, watching the news, reading the news, it's a lot and it's a lot that's constantly happening. And there's a lot of good, there's mostly bad, and mostly just like exaggerations, and it's difficult to judge when something when a when a headline is accurate, or what or so it's keeping it light making sure that Yeah, we're not too bogged down.
So like, I set a timer on Instagram for myself, and I usually try to only, like delay it by 15 minutes at a time, every day. And it's really hard, especially now since I'm trying to do macaron stuff on Instagram, and I will say my, my macaron Instagram feed is a lot more wholesome and nice, then my personal account, just because of the cats that I follow. I follow a lot of bakers. And that's fun to see what other people are doing and how other bakers support each other. That's been a very fun world to jump into. But I think, yeah, keeping it light, eating really good food, bad TV. cuddles with a dog, callin friends call it my sister and I in the beginning of this we facetimed like literally almost every day, and we wouldn't even talk that much. It would just be I'd be working. She'd be working, just to check in with each other. Yeah, exactly. And touch base, make sure that we're all okay. And sending little gifts to friends, that's always a great thing to do to remind yourself that there are people that you love out there that are also going through the same thing. Or worse, depending on their circumstances. Maybe they have to move out of their home because they literally couldn't pay rent, or didn't yet move out of the city or lose their jobs this year. Sending just love to people that you love. Cause, I know it's overwhelming when there's literally so many things that you want to do. And that's almost overwhelming, because then what do you do with it? Where does that energy go?
Derek Horn
So the talk of shitty TV and keeping it light is actually a fantastic segue to the game that I've prepared for us. Or I didn't prepare for I found it for us. This is a game I found from The Cut. Oh, and it's made by Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz. It is can you spot the fake Christmas movie? So I am going to read you the plot of a Christmas movie of the type that's on Hallmark or Netflix or things like that and you have to guess if this is a real plot, or if it is fake. Besides this first one, I haven't seen these as well. So I'll probably be weighing in as well.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Okay. Pshyced. Great.
Derek Horn
Number one. When Michael meets the perfect woman and she invites him to her family's holiday celebration, his Christmas dream comes true. Only for him to discover that he will be Christmas dinner.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh my gosh. Oh, okay. I want to say that's not one. That's not one that's too dark for Christmas movie.
Derek Horn
It's real. It is the plot of Mercy Christmas from 2017. That's like, that's a fun like horror thing. rom com It seems Yanks. Oh, and you know that budgets low. Number two, Heather, a beautiful and gifted professional bassoonist is dreading a lonely Christmas in Vulgaria, where she's traveling to perform with her Philharmonic. However, when the Baron of Vulgaria spots her during a solo performer Heather's holiday gets much more exciting.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Okay, Heather's hanging around Vulgaria. Obviously. This is real. I want this to be real.
Derek Horn
I think it's fake because that kind of, we've had I think a few of these movies like The Princess Switch and the Christmas Prince and a bunch of them that use these kind of vaguely European sounding country names. And Vulgaria sounds like a parody of one of those to me, but we'll see.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh, that's true. Yeah, like vulgar, Vulgaria. That's true. What is it? Fake?
Derek Horn
It is fake.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Okay, yeah. Is that is that is dead on like the plot of like, 10 movies have already I know.
Derek Horn
Like, kind of copy and paste with some of these plots where it's like, just to sub in a new profession. A small town always....
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, there's always a gay or black best friend who at who has no personality. It's always some white girl who's sad and works too hard. That's the that's the plot. Yeah. And then a handsome prince, so she gives everything up for. Yay.
Derek Horn
Number three. Erica is a congressional assistant from Washington D.C. tasked with investigating an Air Force Base in Guam. She's ready to recommend its closure when she meets a handsome Air Force captain. As he shows her around the base, they do charity work for the Guamanian citizens together. A romance blooms.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Of course. Yeah, that sounds true. That's that's real.
Derek Horn
It is real. Actually. This is one is Operation Christmas Drop from this year on Netflix
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh, yes. I keep seeing Yeah, I keep seeing the the thumbnail and I almost clicked many times,
Derek Horn
which, from what I've seen, seems like vague military propaganda. But number four..
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Vague? Oh no. They have a link that you can click to sign up...
Derek Horn
Uhhhhh. Number four, Madison, a conservative young Michigan woman desperately wants to vote in a local election. But a snowstorm is making it hard for her to get to the polls. When a handsome young truck driver helps her along. She thinks she may have found the one only to find the he's a democrat. Can the Christmas spirit help them see past their differences?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
I want this to be real, but I know it's fake. Because all the stories are way too conservative.
Derek Horn
If that was a real movie, I would want to do a watch party together.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah. Oh, that would be I recently which was the I can't remember the name of the movie. Christmas, something about Christmas. And it was it was like such clearly. Like they are preaching these two sisters are preaching. Like just conservative female values that are like, "Oh, he's coming on too strong. He's too forward. You know, I'd never wear something low cut like that. Or, you know, I'd never put myself out there like her" and like lots of comparative to other women's behavior. And meeting a man, you've met twice. He's the one. "I think he might be the one." You don't even know what he does for a living. You don't even know what he does. He lied to you and told you he was a ranch hand. He's not a ranch hand. Anyway, that I'm halfway through that movie.
Derek Horn
Let me know I'm waiting with bated breath. Great. Number five. A group of children are kidnapped in the dead of winter, wearing only their pajamas and no coats. There's a North Pole pound train conducted by Tom Hanks. Once they arrive a contingent elf laborers give them presents. They can only return home if they continue to believe in Santa.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Ana using a terrifying song about hot chocolate on a train. Yeah, Polar Express baby. Yeah, that is so funny.
Derek Horn
I just watching a YouTube video the other day that had clips of that and it was very terrifying that stage of motion capture technology.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, that was like yeah, that deeply terrifying. And Tom Hanks is everyone.
Derek Horn
Number six, Kate works a dead end job as an elf in a Christmas shop. Things start looking up when she meets Tom, the perfect man. They strike up a Yuletide romance and Tom helps Kate get back on her feet. All his happily ever after until, in a Fight Club-esque twist it turns out the Tom was a ghost all along.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh, I bet this is real. Is this real?
Derek Horn
It’s the plot of Last Christmas which we just watched the other night. It's cute.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Okay, good. All right. Cool. A ghost. Why? Also, why do why does every Christmas movie, like especially the romcoms involving adults, every single adult is signed up with Christmas magic. They're just like, Oh, yes. Oh, yes, that is a magic ornament. It's like what what? Or like, Santa is actually real in these movies, and everyone's down, but that half of the people aren't aware that they're Santa. And half the adults are like, oh, wink wink. Santa's coming, be good, but Santa actually comes and delivers presence. So in this Santa is real, it's clean.
Derek Horn
Santa is real and does what you're talking about. Okay, number seven. Alice, a high powered NYC career woman is going through a dry spell. She lives alone and is afraid to date because of the coronavirus pandemic, when that one person she's interacted with in months, her weed delivery guy, starts leaving holiday treats in her drugs and unlikely romance blossoms.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh, I want it to be real. I don't think it is. That would be great.
Derek Horn
Yeah, that's fake. Yeah. Just and also just like, if this was next year, I probably would say maybe that's real, but just given the production constraints of this year. Seems like they'd have to hustle to get that one out. They hustle to get them all out truly. I feel like it's like a week long shooting schedule. Like, here's $5000 here's a small town. Go make it happen.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Mm hmm. Yeah, here all these Canadian actors, because it's they're always filmed in Canada. Always. But it's always like set in LA. But it's like they're clearly Canadian. I love a Canadian.
Derek Horn
I mean, a vast majority of people don't live in New York City. But my favorite is when they like do like the New York set one. And they have these like city blocks are very, very clearly not New York City. But they stitch in like the panoramic view of Manhattan to sell the fantasy to you. Those are always fun.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, those always crack me up or like, the streets are way too wide. It's like this is not what a New York street is and always like, always a grumpy cab driver. Or, or an old man who has Christmas magic who disguises as a cab driver and more like the hotel concierge where
Derek Horn
And he's got a twinkle in his eye.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah. Or like the old man sweeping the side walk, or just weird, weird. There's always a weird, like, old magical person that's never explained. And that just like make stuff happen. And then that's how the plot moves forward. It's just a magical old man being like, no, go over here. And then he disappears and it's like, oh, you can't naturally find a way to make the plot move forward. So yes, but magical man. Cool. Great. Yeah. And he's not Santa.
Derek Horn
We're in the homestretch here. Number eight, are young princesses evil cousin and doppelganger attempts to crash her investiture by kidnapping her only to find out that the kidnappee is not really her cousin, but a baker from Chicago who looks exactly like her.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
One of Vanessa Hudgens' most interesting work so far. What was this one? is it this Princess Switch 2?
Derek Horn
It's The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again. And I have to say that is an instant classic. Not only Christmas movies, but Vanessa Hudgens filmography Not only does she play One leading lady. She plays three of them.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Three leading ladies with three different accents. Um, it's a classic tale.
Derek Horn
I have to say, not only does she have to play these three different characters, but she has to play these three different characters playing each other. So there are layers to that which I mean, in all honesty I do respect because that is not a not an easy task.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
It's a lot of layers. It is so good for her along with her also the Christmas at Night at Christmas? Knight for Christmas? or Christmas night? Yeah, I watched that one again this year to watch it last year. And I will say in the in the medieval themed time traveling Christmas rom com. That Vanessa Hudgens stars and as she's a teacher in this one.
Derek Horn
Ah yes. The Knight Before Christmas.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, good ones. Nailed it there. But I will say her acting, comparing the two. I did watch them back to back. Yep. That was a macaron baking day for sure. They're acting in the Knight Before Christmas is more natural than the other one. But that makes sense because she's playing three with a bunch of accents.
Derek Horn
And there's, I think a layer of camp you have to lean into when you're playing three characters in one movie.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. No, and she leans in, that's for sure. She leans in. Get that money.
Derek Horn
Sure. Number nine. Alicia and her mom have always butted heads. They tried to bond by taking a Christmas ski trip. But when their bus crashes on the way up the mountain, Alicia dies in her soul enters her mother's body. As she adjusts to her mother's life. Alicia begins to learn how much she misunderstood her.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh, wow.
Derek Horn
That sounds almost too convoluted to be fake.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, it seems too thought out. I'd say let's just let's see. It's true. It's real. I want to know what this is.
Derek Horn
That's not real.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh, I see. I would watch that. I would watch that to see how they pull that off,
Derek Horn
Apparently, it's inspired by the plot of a Japanese mystery novel, Naoko. So if you're interested, you can check that out.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
That's like, it's like a Freaky Friday, but somebody dies instead.
Derek Horn
Number 10. And our final question, a secret agent must abandon his romantic Christmas ski chalet to embark on a dangerous time bending mission to prevent the ghost of Christmas' past from destroying Christmas as we know it.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
I'd say that's true. That seems lots of Christmas Past.
Derek Horn
Well, congratulations. We won something.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, we want we want Christmas magic. And another weird obsession with hot chocolate. Everybody loves hot chocolate.
Derek Horn
And I think one of these days we need to make one of these movies. I think we can do it. Um, it seems that most of them they revolve around picking a name. It's like kind of punny and then just like build off of that. The other week we watched Feliz NaviDAD.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh...
Derek Horn
...which is starring Mario Lopez where he is a dad, a Mexican-American Dad. And it's Christmas time. And he he needs to make things up to his daughter. So that's fun.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Oh... you know, there's a lot of those a lot of either there's like, friend conflict, family conflict...
Derek Horn
A lot of working hard and losing sight of their priorities.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
A lot of like, drastic change in setting so it's like New York City worker goes to it goes to Wyoming ranch and falls in love. And that's just Wow, they'll make you fall in love.
Derek Horn
Falls in love with with a Christmas tree farmer or the manager of an inn
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yes. Oh, so many inns. Netflix did put out a Falling INN Love, which was a fall themed. rom com romcom. along a similar vein, yeah, a lot of like, or there's like family rivals a lot.
Derek Horn
Mmm, a little Romeo and Juliet action.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, there's like some some competition or like, someone always hides their identity, their actual identity.
Derek Horn
And then in the third act, there's, I can't believe you would lie to me. Betrayal, then they have to overcome. And then they're together.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah. And then it's overcome just in time for Christmas Day for them to decorate the tree together.
Derek Horn
And then like, get married, and then I'm like, you met a week ago!
Lucy Tomkiewicz
A lot of a lot of proposals in these mood like everything. Yeah, proposal. And that's confusing.
Derek Horn
I give them credit when they do like the one year later or that so maybe a little more realistic.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yes. Yeah. Or like yet, or there's a lot of like, she has a she's a like a hard working lady. And she has a hard working boyfriend or like fiance, but he doesn't pay enough attention to her. She's gonna go home. And then she sees her best friend that she hasn't seen in forever, and they realize they're really in love. And then the asshole hardworking guy just gets dumped.
Derek Horn
Or he like shows up as a surprise. She's like, "oh, Jared, what are you doing here?"
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, and he's like, Oh, dude, surprise you. He's doing the sweet things. He's being nice. He just had to fucking work. And then the family is always a big fan of the best friend. And like, everyone's always, like "you didn't know?! He was in love with you. He's been in love with you since the third grade." And they always add some weird, like, arbitrary. "Don't you remember when you were wrapping presents together?" And it's always just, it's just, it's a lot or like the, the one I'm finishing up right now has two sisters. And they talk to each other. They're it's, we're led to believe that they're best friends. But the way that they talk to each other is like they just met. Or like they both got each other's life resumes. And now they're talking to each other about it. Like, "you used to really love the piano, right?" "Yeah, I did love the piano a lot. But I haven't played in a really long time." "Wow, that must be so hard for you." "It's really hard for me. And you know, I'm the kind of girl that would..." like, just bizarre juxtaposition to give information about these characters. And it's like, this is not how sisters would talk to each other. It's not how friends talk to each other. Like, this is not an interaction that would happen. And the poor like the poor two sisters can't find love because all the men they keep meeting are too forward or too modern and don't have great values. So that's Yeah. Or there's like a single dad who needs to find love and the kid wants to find them love. That's another plot point. That's no, it's Yeah. Anyway, that's my depth of knowledge on bad Christmas movies.
Derek Horn
All right. things up. What is something that is important to you, for you think society should be paying attention to beyond the writing of made for TV Christmas movies?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Rent relief That's what's been on my mind a lot. And I think there, there's obviously a lot of there's a lot of ways to give back and help families who literally just can't pay rent and can't pay rent because they don't have a job and they don't have control over if they have a job or not. And their landlords also don't have control a lot of the times on whether they charge for rent or not because those landlords also need to make a living in order for them to keep their home. So it's a lot of dominoes, but The Conscious Kid, Which is great social media account but also fundraising opportunity they have on there. I don't know if it's in their bio on their Instagram page, but they have a GoFundMe, they've been have it that's been going for quite some time that they're raising money for rent relief across the country for families. And they also will frequently post to have families just like leave their Cash apps or Venmos to help pay for rent because we are supposed to be getting another stimulus check for $600 next week, apparently, according to my father, but $600 is not enough for a family or even individuals to survive.
Derek Horn
No, it's insulting after the first one, how many months after the last one and this came out.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, exactly. And there are so many people who do not have any means or any way to compensate or any people to help like family members anything so and just also donate coats to homeless shelters and the homeless youth goes like after Christmas, go through your closets, grab jackets that you don't wear anymore. gloves, everything because it's cold. I believe this winter is going to be more brutal the past ones just the way it's going and the way temperatures are right now. So yeah, donate jackets, coats everything you can. Yeah, because it's, it's, it is especially difficult to be a homeless person right now. And there's a lot of homeless youth and families. And those families who can't pay rent will have to live in their cars if necessary, or worse. So just if you're able to give, give, share stuff, talk to the people that you know can give, If you don't have any Christmas present bought for anybody yet be like, "Hey, can you just donate 25 bucks to this great instead of Christmas present, so just yeah, and remember that after 2020 is over, we still have a lot more to do a lot more work, and people to take care of and things will not be solved just because there's a different number in the year.
Derek Horn
Back to the point of the stimulus checks. Everyday, I think about how lucky I am to have not only I but my partner has kept their jobs during all this. And we're fine, whether without a stimulus check. So I know that if and when I get that I'm personally just putting it right into these rent relief funds or food pantries or whatever, just because there are people that so desperately need that. And I encourage others who may be listening in similar positions as I am to consider doing that as well.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, that's a great, great idea. Because as much as for everyone 600 bucks says, great, you're great, cool, but if you are perfectly fine, healthy and taken care of on your own dime, because you're still employed, give it if you can, because that would probably mean the world to another family who cannot support themselves. And it's no, absolutely no fault of their own. This bullshit year, they're not being taken care of by our government or anybody else. Give back please give back. Call the people that you love.
Derek Horn
One day, hopefully sooner rather than later. This will be behind us when you're imagining that period in time or that that day that that happens. What are you most hopeful for?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Hmm. That's a tough one. Um, I hope just like, um, there's more empathy, and patience. Because a lot of we all have expectations and everything is very fast paced And I think this whole thing is force everyone to slow down and take stock. And understand what's important to them and kind of who they give their empathy to. And so I hope that it especially just like, outside of just the fact that there was a pandemic this year, the racial injustice and uprising and protests and the election, all really were escalated because of and heightened just the emotion. And I hope that Yeah, moving forward, that there can just be more empathy and understanding of the why why people believe certain things. And that we can kind of take like a breath and feel some relief, in knowing that we're all also all just, we all just went through this thing. And that we are here. And there was a lot of there was a lot of suffering and death and struggle, but where whoever has made it through, and that hopefully, we can all kind of come together because of that shared experience, even if people don't agree on everything.
Derek Horn
I do think that, ultimately, when you strip away all the political forces and powers that seek to divide us for their own interests, and things like that, and no people end up in their trenches and stuff. But I do think at the end of the day, there is more that unites us than divides us. And I'm, I'm hopeful that we can see a day when people understand that and turn our attention to the actual powerful, dark forces in this world.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yeah, exactly. So just like stop buying from Amazon, if you find something on Amazon that you like, type it into Google and see if it's available somewhere else. Maybe it's a local pickup something, but stop shoving Jeff Bezos' money pockets.
Derek Horn
So is there anything that you would like to plug? Is there anything you'd like to plug for listeners? And where can they find you online?
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Um, you can check out macrons and things at @_fromlu on Instagram, and I will be opening up an online shop for them in 2021, which is very exciting. But right now, it's a little old me in my home kitchen baking, so please be patient. And yeah, follow The Conscious Kid because they also have great resources for education and just finding words and language to better express your opinions or how you feel because I know it's really difficult to, especially when it comes to like racial injustice, etc. It's difficult to talk to children about it. It's difficult to talk to friends and family. So when you have resources, where you could literally show them something on your phone, and you can discuss it, then I think it that helps bridge the gap a little bit, especially if you really don't agree on. Yeah, so and share things yet. Just share those helpful resources with friends and family. Especially when you probably feel like you're preaching to the choir on most social. You know, like, it's better to just discuss things in person or over the phone, obviously. All right. It's been like an hour and 25 minutes
Derek Horn
All right, well, thank you for coming on. And I hope you and the fam have a happy and healthy rest of the holiday season and I will talk to you soon.
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Yes, please. You too. Give pats and cuddles to Luna.
Derek Horn
All righty. Love you. Bye
Lucy Tomkiewicz
Bye!