Episode 170 with Meagan Nowacki
Extravagant Parties on a Budget
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SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
170 MEAGAN NOWACKI
Ginny Yurich Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Yurich. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside. And today we have a special guest, actually my oldest friend who has ever been on the podcast, Megan Nowacki, welcome.
Meagan Nowacki Thank you. It's so good to be here.
Ginny Yurich This is so cool. So all this friend going all the way back to high school for me and probably middle school for you. I was thinking recently about how so often in childhood we are siphoned off according to our ages, and you and I are three grades apart. But because we were involved in church music together, we became good friends. I never felt like I was that much older. But maybe.
Meagan Nowacki You now know.
Meagan Nowacki I did the math. It's 26 years we've been friends.
Meagan Nowacki Oh, it's the best thing was like, Wow.
Ginny Yurich That's the coolest. And so what a neat thing that we were able to connect so many years ago. And now we are mothers in the same season. We have kids, are the same age and they're dear friends. And so it's just such a gift. And actually our husbands, our friends, we've been in each other's weddings, the whole thing. It's just been an awesome 26 years. So I love to saying make new friends, but keep the.
Meagan Nowacki Old me as every. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich So I'm still thrilled that you're here. You had a new e-book that just came out called Boujee on a Budget. And so we're going to be talking about that. A Guide to Hospitality. That's good for your soul and your wallet, but I won't be able to get to know you, my memories of you. So we we did a fashion bug modeling show together, and we just did a lot. We did, I think, just a lot of things together. And you have always been, you know, I think in a season of life, especially middle school and high school, where everyone assimilates and everyone does the same thing and everyone sort of looking around and trying to copy each other. You have always been like this shining star that's like, I might do whatever I want to do.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah.
Ginny Yurich Just from whenever I met you. So you're like, okay, well, everyone else is going to come to camp and they're going to all wear the same clothes and I'm going to show up with my comforter and and all my clothes are hung up on hangers and, you know, so. And you've been like that the whole time. And I just think it makes life more fun because you bring all this variety to it and you've never had this complex a while. No one else is doing this. And it's like you can see that it lights you up and you can see that it is what your soul is driving you to do and you do it. So you have continued to be that to this day. Just very intentional, it seems, about finding what you love and putting it out into the world. So your Instagram and a website which I know you're working on and you have created this thing called the Blue Bird's Nest.
Meagan Nowacki MM.
Ginny Yurich So just give us a background. Why did you do it? How did you end up here?
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, it was just kind of a, you know, it started out as just a little blog, you know, back in the day, a little WordPress blog that my mom read, I think, and then probably.
Meagan Nowacki You and a couple of your friends. And then my, you know.
Meagan Nowacki Really with the encouragement of my husband, Dave, you know, he kept saying, you have so much to share. Like, why don't you, you know, like push it a little further. And, you know, so I started doing that and it's really just about I love bluebirds, but it's about creating your nest, your home, making it comfortable, of course, for yourself and for your family, and then extending that, opening it up to other people to come in. Because I think that that's just something I love to do. I want people to feel at home when they're in my home.
Ginny Yurich And they do.
Meagan Nowacki They are. Thank you.
Meagan Nowacki And I want to, you know, hopefully inspire people to know that they can do this, too. It's not just exclusive to me or, you know, anybody. Everybody can host and be hospitable.
Meagan Nowacki MM Yeah.
Ginny Yurich So you have this a little bit in your family history. Your grandma was a baker in Detroit?
Meagan Nowacki Yes. She was a pastry chef at the Detroit Athletic Club when she moved here from Canada. That was her job. And, you know, I kind of feel like it's one of those things where I was very close to my grandma and I loved her so much. But I was really young kind of when she passed away. And I always wish that I could have learned more from her. But I do kind of feel like when I'm doing these things, that I'm doing it to her honor, you know, like I think that she would be if God lets us glimpse down from heaven. I hope that He lets her see what I'm baking and what I'm doing, and I hope she's proud.
Ginny Yurich I that yeah, a little bit of family history there. So yeah, you know, your mom, you've got two kids, you're home schooling. At what point did you decide I want to put this out in the world what I'm doing?
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, I think, gosh, I've always been a creative person and, you know, in years past, it's been creative with music and singing and writing and doing those things. And then when I became a mom and priorities kind of shifted, I still wanted to be creative. I have this drive. I think we all do this drive to create something. And I just feel like I can't help it. I have to put some kind of creativity out into the world. And so instead of, you know, days in the studio recording songs or, you know, doing it became making meals and sharing them with people and putting up tons of decorations and sharing how I do that or doing crafts or whatever it is. So I just kind of recently decided and like over the last probably year and a half or so, to get more serious about it and say like, Hey, if anybody wants to look at this, I'm going to put it out.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah. So it's scary. It is. Yeah, it is scary. I hate that, you know. But sure, people have been really sweet.
Ginny Yurich So yeah, that's why our souls kind of call us to do. I think you just got to step forward into it. So you came out with an e-book. People want to find you. So let's start here. People want to find you. Where can they find you?
Meagan Nowacki I am on Instagram as. Underscore the bluebirds nest underscore.
Meagan Nowacki Um. Somebody had.
Meagan Nowacki Already taken my little name, so I had to get.
Meagan Nowacki Creative.
Meagan Nowacki So we have that. And then I'm also on Facebook as the bluebirds nest.
Ginny Yurich And this e-book that we're talking about is on a website called Pen Site and it's a little bit longer, but you are out, so I'll make sure I put that in the show notes so that's where people can find you and we'll recap at the end. We'll do the same thing just so nobody misses it. Okay, so you came out with an e-book. It's a 50 page e-book. It just launched last week to huge success. People are loving it. My mom talking about our moms. I saw my mom yesterday. She was like, how can I get into your e-book?
Meagan Nowacki You know.
Ginny Yurich I was like, well, you know, we could buy it. It would be on your phone.
Meagan Nowacki And she was like, Oh, well, could you print it out for me? Like.
Meagan Nowacki I tried to print it for a long time and it didn't work. I'm like, I'll.
Meagan Nowacki Get you a copy.
Ginny Yurich No one is interested. My mom brought it up out of the blue, so.
Meagan Nowacki I was like, Okay.
Ginny Yurich That's great. It's got beauty and a budget. So tell us why that was your first e-book.
Meagan Nowacki Yes, well, I kind of just wanted to show I've done several events, my kind of always doing little events, little family events or events for other people on a smaller scale. I do the baking and catering thing from time to time, but whenever I do an event, inevitably and very kindly, I have people ask me, How do you do this? How is it that you're, you know, able to accomplish all this? I could never do it. And I think to myself, yes, you could. And for me to just tell someone how to do it, I think would maybe get lost in translation. So what I wanted to do was kind of organize all the information in a way that people could refer back to it and say, okay, I want to host this tea like a child's Tea Party. And so I'm going to look at this book and say, this was the general budget and these are the recipes and I can do this, I can recreate this. So that's what I wanted to do. And also, I think people sometimes think that doing something that looks extravagant can cost just so much money when it's really not the case. You can do a lot with a little, you really can.
Ginny Yurich And so you go you actually go through the budget, which is so cool, like you have it all priced out in this book. So let's say, look, you want to throw this party, it's going to cost you $12 a person. So there we go. You can scale up or scale down depending on how much. If you want to spend $25 and invite one other person.
Meagan Nowacki To.
Ginny Yurich Spend 100, then you can have some more friends there. So you can kind of determine your budget based on how many people you want to invite or spend time with, which is fantastic.
Meagan Nowacki And a lot.
Ginny Yurich Of these are outside. And I know that you have hosted many outdoor things. So Children's Tea Party is one. I go to a mother's Day tea at your home that was outside Harp playing. You know, a harpist is.
Meagan Nowacki Nelly playing and outside.
Ginny Yurich And so that was beautiful. And then we came to your house and did the Pinewood Derby, which was an outside event. So if people look through this, it's coming out in the summer. Obviously, people live in different climates in different parts of the world, but there are great ideas in here for doing things outdoors, which is helpful depending on your house size or if you live like, let's say in an apartment or something like that, you could take this and do it at the local park like the Children's Tea Party. So I think sometimes that just helps. It helps people to entertain in ways that work with their space.
Meagan Nowacki And it's so nice to have the option for outside. I mean, because my house is not huge. So for me to try to have 50 guests or something, you know, would be crazy. So it's like, hey, just take advantage of these local services where you can rent a tent or a covering or something just in case of bad weather raining on your food and you can totally move everything right outside.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, that's incredible. So this one, you've got five things in this one with a lot of things mixed in. So a girl's game night, which is really fun, but Tea Party, which is great for birthdays and actually you did this one for your niece, a fancy family dinner, gourmet grilling and cute.
Meagan Nowacki Very nice making nice.
Ginny Yurich For a So there's a lot in this one like. You said it's 50 pages. Let's pick one to talk.
Meagan Nowacki About you picked out.
Meagan Nowacki You know, I think that the the gourmet grilling was a fun one just because it was a larger, like kind of family event. And I really like this one because my husband did most of the cooking.
Meagan Nowacki So that was good.
Meagan Nowacki And we kind of did this for a Father's Day celebration. And this is like just really budget friendly, I think a family barbecue or a friend barbecue, whatever it might be. It can be adaptable for anything and this can definitely recommend it honestly for it to be done outside as well. So, I mean, the eating, the cooking, so much of it is outside. Also, I think the little charcuterie one is like a date night at home, you know?
Meagan Nowacki Yeah.
Meagan Nowacki And I think that that when you have children, it can be hard sometimes to leave that leave the house, you know, it can be hard. And so doing a creative little date night at home and setting them up with pizza and a movie in the other room is fun too. And just kind of. Yeah, just being together.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. And Dave's a fireman, so you guys have a schedule that's all over the place and you've got young kids in your home schooling. And so we are in these seasons where sometimes that's what's needed. And so all of these things you have actually done and you have photos of your family doing these different things or photos, these are your photos. So that's a really cool thing. And all of them are different budgets. So for the gourmet grilling, we're talking about less than $10 a person. I mean, you could even charge then, right?
Meagan Nowacki Like, say you're doing it with a large friend group or something and you specify beforehand like, Hey, I just want everybody to chip in this amount, you know, because people do that. I mean, recently on the camping trip, we all pitched in for food, you know, and that was no big deal.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, Yeah. Right. So that's a way that you can really plan things out ahead of time, because if you don't plan out ahead of time, it can cost a lot of money to be hospitable and to have people over. And this breaks it down so that you can know. And what you've done is you've balanced it out too. So if burgers are kind of expensive, then Rice Krispie treats are not.
Meagan Nowacki So it's a great dessert.
Ginny Yurich To pair together. And so what you've done is you balance that out for people. Okay. So tell us about this little ladies Tea Party that you did for your niece.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah. So this was an end of a farewell to kindergarten party. But Claire wanted to do it for her classmates and, you know, for kids. We didn't do the hot tea. We did the pink lemonade and tea parties and stuff, so nobody got hurt. But it was awesome. All the kids came over. We had little at the time. We had little bunnies that were playing with the bunnies outside and they had little like very little gift favors and they were playing fairies just under the trees and in the picnic tables. In the picnic area. It was just very, very sweet and little tea sandwich. Just so you.
Ginny Yurich Know, this tells people how to do that. I love to have good party ideas, especially for kids. Good birthday party ideas. What can you do and what can you serve? And so this one's in there, $10 a person. Not too bad for a special kids party and you are really good at Thrifting. So a lot of your things that you have, I know you've accumulated over the years and collected just special things. What are some of your thrifting tips?
Meagan Nowacki I would say kind of look at what you already have to work with at home and what you're missing. So what you wish you had and you kind of do like a thrift wish lists and I mean, nine times out of ten you'll find it. So you just go in there with, you know, like expectations for good things. And really, I mean, there's so much there's so much that gets donated or, you know, because a lot of people I feel like, don't they think that they'll host parties and then maybe they don't because they don't have the bougie on a budget book to show them how. And so they.
Meagan Nowacki Donate, they donate their things. And so, you know, the beneficiary of that.
Meagan Nowacki So I mean, you I.
Ginny Yurich Might change the world, Meghan.
Meagan Nowacki The way it might even.
Ginny Yurich Change what's available at the thrift.
Meagan Nowacki Stores. Yes. Yeah. So it's like, you know, you.
Meagan Nowacki Could go I found like entire sets of China and beautiful platters and all this stuff, and it's like you check out and it's like 20 bucks, you know? So it's really, really budget friendly to shop at the thrift store.
Ginny Yurich And you found a chocolate fountain?
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, as a chocolate fountain, I have found. Gosh, what else crazy thrift finds? Have I have I found I mean, just there's so many. I probably didn't even.
Meagan Nowacki Think about my pig bowl. I got a.
Ginny Yurich Nice big bowl. Actually, you found me a thing that's at Virginia's kitchen.
Meagan Nowacki Oh, yes, I did.
Meagan Nowacki Like, so many years ago. And I was. I was that right up. Thank you.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah.
Ginny Yurich So, I mean, you can even find really sweet things for friends. Do we get at their stores vases because. Or mason jar type things? Pictures. They're a dollar or two. So then throughout the summer, we can take little bouquets of flowers to friends and. You don't have to give the thing back. They just have.
Meagan Nowacki It.
Ginny Yurich So that's a fun thing to get at a thrift store.
Meagan Nowacki Or also.
Meagan Nowacki If you're taking like a meal to maybe a family that's just had a baby or something. Get a casserole dish, get everything from the thrift store and just say, Here, take it, and you don't have to give this back to me. And I feel like that's kind of stressful sometimes for the recipient.
Ginny Yurich So it is kind of be there. Yeah. Get and I probably I feel like I still have stuff. I have care packages.
Meagan Nowacki Or casserole dish her name.
Ginny Yurich Probably even still on it, you.
Meagan Nowacki Know and when you have it as though it's been a long time.
Ginny Yurich You end up confiscating people's things.
Meagan Nowacki All right.
Ginny Yurich Actually, really good idea, though. You could have a stack of them that are fairly cheap. That's a really cool idea. And a lot of just different trinkets and things your home. And if people follow on Instagram, every time I come over in, probably in the post office for this one, I have got so many pictures of your home because it's like coming in to like, adorable country store. Every season.
Meagan Nowacki Is.
Ginny Yurich Different inside and outside. You know, we were just there for something for your for your birthday party. And there's a big truck out in front, like a half of a truck.
Meagan Nowacki Filled with flowers. Yes.
Ginny Yurich I mean, this whole things and it changes season by season. You have a huge nativity scene out at Christmas time. And so it would seem like you have a lot of time, money and mental space to make it happen.
Meagan Nowacki I have none of those.
Ginny Yurich You know, when you really don't have those in, you track a little bit in this book briefly, but like about your anxiety. So how do you do that?
Meagan Nowacki Yeah. So yeah, I do definitely struggle. And as you know, with a lot of anxiety and I almost feel like having people around for me helps sometimes people that are anxious, they kind of draw it into themselves and they just want to be alone. And I feel better when I am, when I am, but I feel like I'm being useful when I feel like I'm like serving others and when I have people around that are appreciative. And if I'm doing something for you and making you feel special, I have less time to feel anxious and upset within, you know, because I am I feel like I'm contributing to positivity.
Meagan Nowacki So there's a verse.
Ginny Yurich That says that and Proverbs it says, and everyone that listens to the podcast reads the Bible. But I think Proverbs is always a good one that people can read because it's just a book of wisdom.
Meagan Nowacki It's wisdom.
Ginny Yurich So anybody can read that. So we all we all want wisdom. And it says he who refreshes others refreshes himself for he who waters others, waters himself. It's something along those lines, different in different translation. But that's kind of what you're talking about and that's how it works. It gets your mind off your own situation for a bit of time, and it doesn't have to cost $1,000,000 if you're on a tight budget and, you know, dealing with little kids and different types of things. So you say when I'm not breathing into a paper bag or practicing grounding exercises, I like to make a weekday dinner feel like a fancy occasion.
Meagan Nowacki Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich And that's something that you do often.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah. Yeah.
Meagan Nowacki Boys, You know, I have two boys. I did not have any daughters, but I find that, you know, it really. It doesn't matter. The boys like fancy things, too, you know? They want to drink, you know, a sparkling cider out of a fancy cup. And, you know, they want to practice putting a napkin in their lap and, you know, they're fine with it. And I and I feel like I'm kind of raising some gentleman, you know, that will kind of know how to treat someone someday. And it's also, I think, important for kids to see their parents extending hospitality to other people and then also to them, you know, to feel like they're special and that they're wanted and they're worth the work that it involves.
Ginny Yurich Oh, that's a really cool point because you do do that. So if people are on social media and follow along, they would see that you do that for your kids, for that different holidays.
Meagan Nowacki They always say.
Ginny Yurich You know, you're spending $1,000,000 than you are because like for Valentine's Day, for instance, what you did for Valentine's Day.
Meagan Nowacki Oh, okay. So, you know, Dave and I, my husband, Dave and I, we didn't go out and, like, leave the kids at home. What I did is I made, like a family dinner and it was like, you know, fancy by by my standards. So we had, like, steaks and we had, you know, potatoes and salad and this sparkling cider and this chocolate chip cookie cake. And I set the table really nicely for them and they were like, Wow, You know, Lincoln was like, I feel like I got to go put on a nicer shirt, you know?
Meagan Nowacki And so and so they just.
Meagan Nowacki Came and we all just sat there and talked and fancy food. And it was just very sweet. Yeah, they enjoyed it.
Ginny Yurich They're really going to remember. And you do that for all the different holidays, like go show your Easter baskets and things like that with lot of great ideas and your boys are six and 11.
Meagan Nowacki Six and 11. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich And so they're just joining in with. All the things it.
Meagan Nowacki Does.
Ginny Yurich In that special. Like you said, it's showing them different things that they can do, different things that they can support, different things that they can just enjoy. And I know they they're pretty good eaters.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, they.
Meagan Nowacki Are. They're, you know, kind of more adventurous eaters. Like we went to Florida recently and they both try the oysters on. They have Shell.
Meagan Nowacki Which is pretty.
Meagan Nowacki Scary for.
Meagan Nowacki A kid.
Meagan Nowacki I mean, it looks pretty unappetizing, but they were like.
Meagan Nowacki Oh, well, I.
Ginny Yurich Mean, I've never had it.
Meagan Nowacki Right.
Meagan Nowacki So Bentley, actually, my 11 year old enjoyed it. And Lincoln was a no.
Meagan Nowacki But I was like, Hey, each night it is important.
Meagan Nowacki To expand their palates. You don't just want to have your kid only eating chicken nuggets and fries and, you know, cheese and stuff. So it's like, you know, open up the possibilities for them. And and you always do what I call, like a no thank you bite. Just take one bite. And then if it's a no, thank you, it's okay.
Ginny Yurich But I like that idea. Well, it's it's an interesting concept because it's one of the things that prepares kids for being older and for gaining and for different situations in life where you find yourself in places where you need to eat, what's there.
Meagan Nowacki Is a master.
Ginny Yurich Option. So and Steven Rinella talks about and he's got this show called Meat Eater, but he just talks about hanging out with the cool people when you're older.
Meagan Nowacki And part of.
Ginny Yurich That comes from having experiences and being able to talk about things. And part of that comes from being able to be in a social setting and be able to assimilate in the way that other people are. They are so these different things, they add a lot of social time to your life.
Meagan Nowacki Because.
Ginny Yurich You put in the time and energy and they add a lot of new experiences and flavors and colors and smells and that type of thing. Now, do you find that the boys enjoy cooking or do they just enjoy the eating?
Meagan Nowacki They both are very interested in cooking. Lincoln My youngest, is pretty interested in any kind of cooking thinking that's going on and and that's really good for kids. You know, it can be frustrating. I think sometimes having kids in the kitchen.
Meagan Nowacki Because they give you a.
Meagan Nowacki Little, you know, this bill things or whatever, but it's like just take a deep breath and let them help you, number one, because they're much more likely to eat it if they've helped you make it. And number two, you're really kind of fostering good things in them, like they're fine motor skills when they're, you know, measuring things out and putting things into bowls and all of that. So that's good. So Lincoln enjoys helping with that. And then finally, he can make a lot of things for himself, like he can make breakfast, you can make scrambled eggs, can make, you know, So it's like in the morning, I always tell him I'm like, I'm not making breakfast unless it's like a big breakfast. I'll say, You have to figure it out. And a lot of times Bentley will make food for himself and for for Lincoln, too. So.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, Yeah.
Ginny Yurich And just even with the math, I know you talk about, like, that was not your favorite subject in school, so we knew each other back in the day when we're having to take all these classes. And now here you are doing food and multiplying recipes and having recipes. So you talk about how just those real world experiences has helped with your the academic things, right?
Meagan Nowacki I mean, no one would believe it if I told you that how bad I am at math. It really has just been a lifelong mental block for me.
Meagan Nowacki I mean, I can do the.
Meagan Nowacki Basics, thankfully. But when I was a senior in high school, I was in the lowest math class that was available to.
Meagan Nowacki Anyone and I was not doing well. And what it was.
Meagan Nowacki Was like, well, number one, I don't care about it that much. I feel like when you really are like good at something, it's something that you care about. But I also just couldn't grip it. Fractions in particular. And then as I got older and I started cooking and baking in particular, it was like all of a sudden fractions clicked for me when I was measuring this as a quarter of a cup and oh, an eighth is half of that, You know, whatever it is, it's like, okay.
Meagan Nowacki I need to.
Meagan Nowacki Scale this recipe up or I need to scale this recipe down. And I was able to do that and it was like, Gosh, in that math class, if somebody would have let me bake a cake, I would have got it a lot sooner. So I think it speaks to the different ways in which we all learn and stuff clicks for us, and that can definitely be in the kitchen.
Ginny Yurich That's so interesting, I think, because I taught math.
Meagan Nowacki So yeah.
Ginny Yurich So I had the other end of the spectrum there, but not creative, right? So I'm not creative like you are. We just come with these different things and fractions was always an area where people would get stuck, kids.
Meagan Nowacki Would get stuck.
Ginny Yurich And that happened in fourth grade ish. It might have changed because I now they have younger kids doing things as a fourth grader. And then for the rest of childhood, I would get these high scores that would say, I'm not good at math, I can't do it. And really they just got stuck in fractions. And fractions are very tricky because they're opposite of everything that you've learned up until this point. So you learn that four is smaller than eight, but one fourth is bigger than one.
Meagan Nowacki And then what.
Ginny Yurich You see is that. But if someone plays around with measuring cups, that's India forever. And then if you're trying to figure out how do you divide it in half or how do you double it, then all you have to do is think of your measuring cups. You know how to remember the rules and the formula is and how do you get from one thing to the other. And now you are. I mean, your teachers would probably be amazed at.
Meagan Nowacki You.
Meagan Nowacki Right? They'd be like, Sorry, we should have let you bake.
Meagan Nowacki A cake because.
Ginny Yurich You are doing events for large groups of people as well as cooking for your own family of four. And so you're able to really scale up and scale down using math.
Meagan Nowacki Yes, totally. We thought I'd use it, but here we are.
Ginny Yurich So your kids would do the same thing. But getting them in the kitchen like you're talking about as hands on helps them. The smells, all of that stuff. It's like high sensory.
Meagan Nowacki Equipment.
Ginny Yurich Is doing cooking and it does a lot for the parent and for the child. So you've got some other ideas, a book that are going to be coming out.
Meagan Nowacki And yes.
Ginny Yurich So people can start with boujee on a budget and then they can anticipate what are some. So once you kind of put one thing out in the world that you start thinking about all the other things, well, what might come next? So tell us some of the other things.
Meagan Nowacki So I'm working on two kind of simultaneously right now. The first one is called What the Fork Is for Dinner.
Meagan Nowacki And this is going to be.
Meagan Nowacki A collection of probably about 10 to 12, just easy weeknight meals.
Meagan Nowacki For people. I had to think of a catchy title. And does your mom approve, Deb?
Ginny Yurich Does Debbie.
Meagan Nowacki Approve? I know Debbie actually did.
Meagan Nowacki Laugh at the title.
Meagan Nowacki So we're good. Yeah. And then the other.
Meagan Nowacki One is Book, one of a series called How to Host. And this will take individual events one by one and break them down. And the first event would be a book exchange party. So I'm hoping to have that one out in time for the fall, in time for cozy book reading and tea drinking time. So yeah.
Ginny Yurich I'm so excited and I'm coming. See this? I'm the beneficiary. You're one of those friends that you don't want to get stolen away.
Meagan Nowacki Oh, I think you're kind of like.
Ginny Yurich Well, in here, I have you on the podcast, but listen to everyone listening. Sorry she's taken and yes, but because I'm going to get to come to all the things which is super exciting, but a book exchange party and you have a how to host. I mean, several of these actually are how to host.
Meagan Nowacki A.
Ginny Yurich Game night girls game night.
Meagan Nowacki And the.
Ginny Yurich Little lady Tea Party so people can kind of get a feel for that in this book. I mean, you might even do the Iowa Derby. I mean, so many ideas on different types of things to host. There's really cool party ideas out there. One of the ones that you and I talked about recently was a guinea pig party where everyone makes something that they've never made before. Josh made fun of it, but everybody makes something that they've never made before, and you basically use each other as guinea pigs. I love that we did a Favorite Things party.
Meagan Nowacki MM Yes.
Ginny Yurich And that was a fun.
Meagan Nowacki One.
Meagan Nowacki I wish I could have made it to that one. That was the catering and I was like elbow deep and £30 of shrimp.
Meagan Nowacki Remember there have been at the favorite things party.
Ginny Yurich But everyone brought one of their favorite. Like if it's your lip balm or your favorite, I can't remember I brought the, the Dough Stirrers, I think. And also this little salad. I think I gave yours away, though, because you weren't there.
Meagan Nowacki I guess I gave it to Zone. Sorry. So I need to backtrack and get you your things. Look. Yeah. So that is a funny.
Ginny Yurich So it's funny. I just different ideas to how often in life it's come up. A couple times I've been talking to different authors and there's an author named Mike Rucker who wrote a book called The Fun Habit, and then an author, John LaBelle, who wrote a book called The Warrior Poet Way, which is about like the sort of strength and also sensitivity of a man. It was a sort of a strange book for me to read, but I also really liked it. And they both talk about this thing called the Memento Mori, which is like a symbolic thing, maybe a physical object that remind you to put in the work, basically to do the thing. And it's hard. And you don't know if people are going to show up and are they going to want to come and are they going to think your idea is stupid and all these different things? Is your food going to turn out or are you going to have enough time to clean the house and that type of thing? But you never regret like, I mean, we'll always remember the pain with Darby and we'll always remember the Mother's Day. And I know you've hosted so many things at your home parties with the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Meagan Nowacki And so people remember those details.
Ginny Yurich And you have these distinct memories that actually what Dr. Mike Ricker says is it makes your life feel longer because you have had these different experiences. It's like, well, I mean, the dinner thing actually is really interesting, Megan, because I don't. Hardly remember any of our distinct dinners.
Meagan Nowacki Right.
Ginny Yurich But if you do something special now and then, you can even make your everyday dinner be a little bit of an occasion and something that stands out for your family. So talk to us about I mean, dinner is a thing. It is actually something I really struggle with and especially with being outside and prioritizing hands on experience is a lot of times there's not a ton of time. And that's something that kind of gets pushed by the wayside. But I definitely someone was telling me the other day, Megan, that they're starting to make chicken out of a cell and then it grows in a lab and then it's not going to be labeled at a restaurant. So I was like, Okay.
Meagan Nowacki I really need to raise it. We are cooking at home. Exactly. So, yeah, Yeah.
Ginny Yurich Well, let's see what they said. Now, here's the thing. I mean, you hear things and you're like, I haven't read about it, but this is what they said, Meghan. It's someone that I trust that runs a farm. And sometimes people read things that you haven't read. So, I mean, don't take it as Bible truth. But anyway, what this person told me was that they're trying to make lab grown meat grow in the lab. It's easier, less messy. I don't know. Who knows. But you take the style and it grows and it turns into chicken or something like that. But in order to make it grow really fast because they're trying to produce more food, they're using cancer cells.
Meagan Nowacki Oh, gosh. Amazing. Okay.
Ginny Yurich We don't even know where it's at in the process or anything like that, but we want to cook at home for a lot of reasons. It's more economical. It's a healthier. Even if you wrote a really interesting thing in here, like you said, I can do a fancy dinner for my family and it costs about $10 a person. But truth be told, that's how much Wendy's costs. Oh, yeah. If you have a child that's, you know, eight or older for ten or older, depending on how much they eat, those meals can be ten, 12 bucks at the fast food. So you can do a fancy thing for your family. I mean, that's incredible.
Meagan Nowacki Thank you. Yeah. You know where it came from? I mean, honestly, when we were on a road trip recently, we went through the drive thru. There's just four of us, you know? But when you're getting each person a meal and you're really kind of your only option is like a soft drink, You know, we're not getting out of there for less than just under $50, you know?
Meagan Nowacki Wow.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, it's wild. And, you know, and as far as like, the the Franken chicken and stuff, I mean, that's like that's not even a no thank you. But I wouldn't even.
Meagan Nowacki Make my kids try it, you know? Right, Right. Plus, I we we have.
Meagan Nowacki A hobby farm here, and we do raise poultry both for egg production and for, you know, meat production as well. And I know that not everybody can do that. And I certainly wouldn't expect everyone to. But if you can, I would definitely recommend it. Or at the minimum, just try to know where your food is coming from. Really pick up what you're buying at the grocery store and look at it and just take a minute and make sure it's not grown in a lab for sure.
Meagan Nowacki Right.
Ginny Yurich From what I understand, it will be labeled in grocery store. So you can know that may not be labeled in a restaurant situation. And so it's just another reason to try and learn how to cook at home. In fact, Joe Winger, she has old fashioned on purpose, and she says that's actually the first step toward self-sufficiency. And homesteading is learning how to cook your own meals. And so give us a little preview of what's going to be in what the fork for dinner is for dinner.
Meagan Nowacki Yes.
Meagan Nowacki So last night, actually, I started kind of taking some pictures for the book and I made some easy French dip sandwiches. This is it was a big hit yesterday and we've had them before. But I kind of upped the ante a little bit with some flavorings. But this is, you know, cost effective. This is something that you can put in your crock pot. This is not something that's labor intensive. The most you know, I would say difficult part of the recipe is just making sure you don't burn the cheese under the broiler. But yeah, I mean, the the the meat cooks in the crock pot, the rs2 or the dipping sauce that you dip your sandwich in is right there in the crock pot. And then you just serve some simple sides and you've got a really nice filling, nutritious weeknight dinner. And I think people think that it's so hard sometimes it's so time consuming. And there's a difference, I always say, between something that's hard and something that just takes some time. But that time doesn't necessarily have to be hands on for you. It can be the time that this is cooking in the crock pot. All you have to do is just remember to hit the start button, you know, and let it go. So, yeah, it's I just want to point out to people that you can cook at home. You don't have to spend, number one, all of the money on purchasing food from restaurants or fast food places, and you're going to get better nutritional value, too.
Meagan Nowacki Mm hmm.
Ginny Yurich So this one that you had in. Louisiana budget is a $40 meal for four people. So $10 a person is just cheaper than fast food. And you have a choice. The menu is a chicken fettuccine, a salad, a bread, a cake, a really special cake and a drink.
Meagan Nowacki So you can do.
Ginny Yurich All of that to have this fancy dinner for your family for less than it cost to eat fast food. So this book also includes a pantry list. That's got to be pretty hard to narrow down what you think people should have in their pantry. How did that.
Meagan Nowacki Go?
Meagan Nowacki Well, I was thinking to myself as I was writing these recipes and then also doing the budget breakdown, it was like if you if you had to buy every single item in the recipe as you were doing it, it would be out of the budget. However, if you're just going to go ahead and say, I am going to stock my fridge, freezer and pantry and I'm going to incur a little bit of the extra costs in the beginning. So I have these things, then it ends up being much better for your budget. So having, you know, having things in your pantry that you can throw other meals together, I mean, that aren't in this book, which I would love to do eventually too. Like a cooking from the pantry book too, because a lot of times that is happening. A lot of times I haven't had time to get to the store that week. And I'm like, okay, what do I have in my freezer and pantry that I can make something good.
Meagan Nowacki Out of, which is a huge skill?
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. It's fun to do. It's kind of like playing Chopped with yourself.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah. So. Yeah. Okay, So.
Ginny Yurich Tell us, what is Boujee like for someone who wouldn't know.
Meagan Nowacki Right? Yeah, it's like this slang term and my six year old actually, you know, any time that I do anything that he deems as fancy, you know, he'll say, Mom, you're so boujee.
Meagan Nowacki And I'm like, Where do you get this stuff? But Boujee on.
Meagan Nowacki A budget has kind of been a term floating around on the Internet for a long time. And it's just basically, you know, a way to say I'm doing something that looks opulent and special and expensive, but it's really not because I did it on this budget, you know, And you can do it too. And, you know, looks can be deceiving sometimes, thankfully. Right.
Meagan Nowacki So, yeah, So it's a lot of fun and.
Meagan Nowacki It's just a way to be creative and say, you know, how can I do this on a dime, really, and make people think I spent a million bucks?
Meagan Nowacki So.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, I mean, so tell us about the catering that you do on the side. What are some of your favorite types of catering jobs?
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, so I have done I really I think my favorite would be doing like sweet tables for weddings and stuff. I remember a wedding I did a few years ago that was on a farm. It was like a barn wedding. And they wanted a wedding cake, obviously, but then they wanted this whole table of like cookies and little mini cakes and, you know, everything decorated like, you know, rustic with, like, flowers. Then I'm not a huge like, I do wedding cakes, but I'm not a huge user of like fondant or things that are kind of like they looked like plasticky. Not that, not that they're not beautiful. I just don't do it. I really prefer to do that rustic, natural. But I think it's more interesting sometimes to have the food be decorated with the ingredient that's inside of it so the people know what they're eating it. So yeah, I think it's pretty it's something that's, you know, not pretending to be something else. So I enjoy that kind of thing. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich And then I guess flowers, remember? You remember when I tried to copy, I was like, Ooh, I've got a lot of flowers in my backyard. And I just, like, shove them in a cake. Didn't not look.
Meagan Nowacki Good. Yeah, I like.
Ginny Yurich That. I was like, okay, there is a lot of skill to that that I am missing. But you were saying something else.
Meagan Nowacki Oh, I've done, you know, like I did a graduation party last year, which was a lot of fun. There's so many different things. And I have also done very fancy parties, holiday parties. You know, I think it's fun to do a mixture of all of the catering. It's it's you get a lot of experience and people are always so sweet and they're so grateful that you made them something. And yeah.
Meagan Nowacki They love it.
Ginny Yurich It is an interesting thing that you brought up though. When you bring up the mixture you have really done. When you talk about experience and you've been doing this for a long time, it's something you were interested in. Even as a kid, you always make everyone milkshakes from scratch, all sorts of different things. So this is going back decades of time and you have got this really big foundation of types of things that you have done that makes you unique, that you've done the Pinewood Derby to the kids, Tea Party, to the holiday party, to the wedding. I mean, all of these different things. This one is talking about a girls game night. I'm playing mall madness. And so this is a very broad array of experiences and things that you have done, even down to your own personal family holidays, because every Christmas you do something new.
Meagan Nowacki Yes. Every Christmas Eve, there's a new theme. And I'm blessed to host Christmas Eve here at the house. And what I usually do is. Pick a country and I make all of the food that is Christmas food from that country. And, you know, so we've had Italian Christmas born, Italian, we've had French Christmas, we've had Feliz Navidad. We've had, you know, all of these different ones, a German Christmas.
Ginny Yurich What did you do last year?
Meagan Nowacki Last year. Gosh, now I can't even remember it. It might have been the British Christmas because I am a lover of all things British culture and the Queen, God rest her soul. And I just I love all of that. I actually went to London in my early twenties and I can't wait to go back someday. I love all the food and I love Nigella. Nigella Lawson is my favorite hands down, favorite British chef and TV personality. When I grow up, I want to be her.
Meagan Nowacki So yeah.
Meagan Nowacki So I used her Christmas book, Christmas cookbook for quite a bit of that. And it was a hit. Everybody enjoys it.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah. Wow.
Ginny Yurich And think about how much you're learning. It is.
Meagan Nowacki A really.
Ginny Yurich Fascinating thing to think about how much you can learn through food.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah.
Ginny Yurich When we talk about math and how you're talking about cultures and you're talking about geography and you're talking about different flavors and different vocabulary and different words are things I think you learn that there's a lot more variety of food than we even realize. And what's right in the grocery store, you're trying to get different types of ingredients. So that's a great way for kids to learn as well. Maybe that can be the next series, which is like I'm looking around the world or Christmas around the world.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, that would be great.
Ginny Yurich To show some of the different parties you've done over the years.
Meagan Nowacki A Totally. And I think also it's important when your family has like recipes that you make, like there's family recipes, there's family lore, you know, around certain things. And it's like that started somewhere. So when you are exploring this food from other cultures, you can almost kind of see where maybe something originated. But food is alive. It's like language, it's always changing and it's always adapting. And you can take something and make it your own just by adding or omitting something. You know, it's like whatever you like, whatever you don't like, just change it and try it out and see. And I think kids enjoy that too.
Ginny Yurich Absolutely. Yeah, a lot of creativity, a lot of trial and error. So bougie on a budget. Let's just remind people where they can find you. It's the bluebirds Nest is your platform. So if they're finding on Instagram, there's underscores at the front in the back and there's just a lot of great information on there. You show really cool special things that you're doing there. Family like the French dip sandwiches were on there recently and you're showing your different parties and you're showing your family and how you're doing things. So like, for example, you had a cake recently that has oranges and limes on the top of it, along with beautiful flowers. Yeah, That shows what you were just talking about.
Meagan Nowacki Yes. Like it was an orange and lime flavored cake. And I thought it was kind of important to say this is, you know, you eat with your eyes first, you know, so this is what you'll be eating.
Meagan Nowacki And it's, you know, it's.
Meagan Nowacki Beautiful to you that that food can be really beautiful. I think there's what's prettier than like a lime slice or an orange slice. I mean, you can like, hold it up to the light and see through it. I love that. So it's.
Meagan Nowacki Like.
Meagan Nowacki Yes, windows on your cake.
Ginny Yurich Oh, and I love stained glass. I agree. I've definitely marveled many times at the insides of citrus fruits.
Meagan Nowacki Usually it's.
Ginny Yurich All these like little things like.
Meagan Nowacki While Ms. grew out of a tree light.
Ginny Yurich It's so incredible in that there's so many different varieties of citrus. And then additionally, beyond the baking, beyond the parties, beyond the entertaining, you have a small hobby farm, so people, if they're looking for inspiration, can come there to tell us a little bit more about your farm.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, so we have just a six acre property here in kind of a semi-rural area of Michigan. It's not quite as rural as some, but we do have six acres here. We have chickens, like I said, both as kind of like pet and egg layers. And then we also do some meat production with that. My husband is threatening to get goats all the time.
Meagan Nowacki And pigs and.
Meagan Nowacki Pigs. Yes, there's been lots of talk of that. And so he's kind of working on clearing a space for those and I'm not helping.
Meagan Nowacki So I'm like, you know, if you get it done, that's great. Go ahead.
Meagan Nowacki And we have ducks as well, a little Indian runner ducks, which are very cute. And they stand up really tall and they're very sweet. We're having a wedding here. We've had a couple of weddings here at the farm, so we're having a wedding here in August, some family friends, and we have never had a ceremony here on site. So this is a big project right now. We're working to clear the ceremony space and we've made this big clearing in the woods. So our friends are going to get married under all these beautiful, tall trees, and we're building benches out of logs and hopefully they will love it.
Ginny Yurich Or it's so special and you have a big garden.
Meagan Nowacki We do. You have a big garden. I'm growing lots of tomatoes right now. And I just discovered just in time that my green beans are actually alive and well. They were hidden under all their leaves and I was like, Oh, I'm so glad I caught it before they grew too big. There's nothing worse than that.
Meagan Nowacki So yeah, I.
Ginny Yurich Just had green beans at your house the other day. Member So this, I mean, this is a unique thing. I think this is, you know, people should be following along because you have these unique ideas that, I mean, I'm in my forties and have never, ever, ever. Well, tell us what you put out.
Meagan Nowacki The green beans. I did a ranch dip and a veggie tray and we had the raw green beans, cucumbers and carrots. And I just think green beans are so good dipped in ranch dressing.
Ginny Yurich So yeah. And there's these green beans that aren't cooked, you know, you didn't cook them.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah, exactly. No, I didn't. They're just.
Meagan Nowacki Raw and. Yeah, Yeah.
Ginny Yurich So you can grab your green beans right out of the garden and put them with a ranch dip. A homemade ranch.
Meagan Nowacki Dip. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich And it's incredible.
Meagan Nowacki Yes.
Meagan Nowacki And the kids love raw veggies. They just eat them right out of the garden. And I feel like, You know what? That's great.
Meagan Nowacki So, yeah.
Ginny Yurich I remember eating raw green beans out of my grandma's garden. I mean, they would have been a lot better with ranch dip.
Meagan Nowacki So life is better with Ranch.
Meagan Nowacki It most things are better.
Meagan Nowacki Yeah.
Ginny Yurich So Louisiana budget and lots more books coming. So people, you need to make sure they're following along in the is really give great ideas for hospitality indoors or out and I think that's a really fun part of it that a lot of the hospitality can happen outdoors and then you don't have to be quite so concerned about your home the entirety of your home. People can just be outside and they can expand and there's a little bit more space and you can maybe include more people and things like that. So lots of amazing ideas. Make sure you check out the e-book. It's only 12 bucks boujee on a budget. More to come. Megan This is a funny question. Yes, because we always end the podcast.
Meagan Nowacki This is great.
Ginny Yurich With your favorite childhood memory that was outside.
Meagan Nowacki Oh gosh. Okay.
Meagan Nowacki My favorite childhood memory.
Ginny Yurich Or maybe your least favorite.
Meagan Nowacki Okay, guys.
Meagan Nowacki You know, I was a kid that that kind of spent a lot of time inside. My kids are getting a lot more outside time than I did. And I spend the most outside time of my life when I'm with you.
Meagan Nowacki So that's great. I mean, I love it. I think that.
Meagan Nowacki Probably I'll say my least favorite.
Meagan Nowacki So there was a time when when my mom was.
Meagan Nowacki Was kind of forcing the outside issue. You know, she was really sick of me being inside. And she said, you have to go outside and play. And I was just, you know, fighting this. And so she.
Meagan Nowacki Actually we had a big.
Meagan Nowacki Fenced in yard, you know, and this was the nineties, and she was like, okay, I am locking the door.
Meagan Nowacki It's so she like the, the patio door.
Meagan Nowacki And I just laid on the deck and cried.
Meagan Nowacki And eventually she let me back in. But yeah.
Ginny Yurich But that is a unique answer. No one's ever given that answer before.
Meagan Nowacki But one of.
Meagan Nowacki The favorite though is remember the time that we went swimming at my grandpa's pool at his.
Meagan Nowacki When I did and he was.
Meagan Nowacki Oh dear, one of my favorite people. And he took us to the pool and we were teenagers. But he sat there and watched as the whole time to make sure we were all right.
Ginny Yurich I love that.
Meagan Nowacki And what a.
Ginny Yurich Special those are. So special memories with grandparents. I love when grandparents do like a little bit of eccentric things, like, yeah, you know, like we could drive and, like, go anywhere, but sure, walk us to the pool. That'd be great.
Meagan Nowacki I know this the whole time, even though we're 17. Yes, Yes.
Ginny Yurich I'm a lifeguard, But that's all right.
Meagan Nowacki You know, just the best.
Ginny Yurich Just having those conversations, though. It gives you time to have conversation and it just allows time to slow down a little bit. So I love it. Meghan, Way to go. Way to go on your iBook. It is beautiful. It's beautiful. And it is one of those books that will really help to enhance your life and there's more to come, so you got to make sure you're following along. She don't miss out the bluebirds nest and and we'll have you back on when some of these new ones come out What the fork is for dinner. I definitely need that one and can't wait. So thank you for being here.
Meagan Nowacki Thank you. Bye.
