Welcome back to Deep & Shallow, the Talking Smack 415 series where best friends Debbie Mink and Jamie the Great talk about whatever is happening in our lives, from the genuinely hard stuff to the completely ridiculous.

And this month? There’s a LOT happening.

Debbie just dropped her daughter off at college, and while watching your kid spread her wings is exactly what you spend 18 years preparing for, nobody really prepares you for what happens when you come home and see that empty bedroom.

We talk about the emotional transition of sending a child to college, the grief and pride that can exist at the exact same time, changing family dynamics, and whether the so called empty nest might eventually have some perks. More time for ourselves? More hobbies? Nobody asking us where we’re going? Maybe Jamie is onto something.

Debbie is also heading into October with a birthday and a brand-new chapter: beginning her professional coaching certification and building a coaching practice focused on helping people who feel stuck, lost, creatively disconnected, or simply ready to figure out what’s next.

Then things get deeper.

Jamie shares an update from her latest appointment in Boston, where the experimental treatment she’s been undergoing for oral precancerous lesions didn’t lead to the news she was hoping to hear. Instead, doctors found areas they wanted to investigate further and performed two biopsies.

Jamie talks about the physical pain of oral biopsies, the mental exhaustion of walking into an appointment expecting one thing and walking out with something completely different, and why sometimes sleeping through the aftermath is exactly what you need.

And because this is Deep & Shallow, naturally we go from oral biopsies to flooded streets to… KUGEL.

Yes, the Great Kugel Competition continues.

Jamie may have won the Instagram vote, but Debbie is demanding an in-person taste test before conceding anything. A full Kugel-Off is officially coming.

And finally, we have some BIG Talking Smack 415 news: Debbie and Jamie are competing in the Top Host podcast competition! We talk about our strategy, why we want to bring Talking Smack 415 to a bigger audience, and what this podcast has always been about for us: friendship, laughter, connection, and helping people feel a little less alone.

Also discussed: Jamie’s custom “Badass” sweatshirt, October birthdays, empty nesting, coaching, nor’easters, flooded streets, Rosh Hashanah, competitive kugel baking, and why somehow all of these topics make perfect sense in one conversation.

Because that’s friendship. One minute you’re talking about cancer. The next you’re arguing about kugel.

Laughter and friendship to feed your soul.

If you love Talking Smack 415, subscribe, follow, rate, review, and share the show with someone who could use a little Deep & Shallow in their life.

Also we've decided to enter the top host competition separately so please vote for one of us every 24 hours from Oct. 5- Oct. 15

Debbie Mink's Top Host Voting Link

Jamie The Great's Top Host Voting Link

Share this episode with your friends and family who love to laugh. Subscribe to Talking Smack 415 and leave us a rating and review so more peeps can find us for laughter and friendship to feed your soul!

Can your home actually make you feel calmer, happier, more focused — and maybe even more abundant?

This week on Talking Smack 415, Debbie Mink and Jamie the Great sit down with Lisa Morton, holistic interior designer, Feng Shui master teacher, host of the Feng Shui Living Podcast, and author of Aligned at Home.

Lisa spent years designing ultra-luxury private jet interiors before burnout, anxiety and panic attacks forced her to rethink not only how she was living — but how the spaces around her were affecting her wellbeing.

That journey led her to Feng Shui, energy work and holistic interior design, and completely changed the way she thinks about our homes.

We get into how your physical environment can affect your nervous system, energy, productivity, relationships and overall sense of wellbeing — without requiring a massive renovation or an HGTV-sized budget.

We talk about:

• What Feng Shui actually is — and why it’s not just woo-woo
• The five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water
• How to use the Bagua map to understand the energy of your home
• Why the center of your home matters
• The importance of your front door — aka the “mouth of chi”
• How clutter can affect your nervous system
• Why the position of your desk can change how focused and productive you feel
• The Feng Shui “command position” for working and studying
• How color psychology impacts mood and energy
• Creating balance when one person is a maximalist and another wants everything put away
• Why mirrors can amplify both the good AND the not-so-good in your home
• Simple ways to reset the energy of a room
• Crystals, plants, natural materials, space-clearing sprays and biophilic design
• How to create a calmer, healthier dorm room in a tiny shared space
• Why broken appliances, leaks and burned-out light bulbs are worth fixing ASAP
• And yes... why Lisa wants you to PUT THE TOILET SEAT DOWN

One of our favorite takeaways? Your home doesn't just need to look beautiful. It should support the way you want to feel.

Whether you're sending a kid off to college, working from home, trying to get organized, living with people whose definition of “clean” is VERY different from yours, or simply craving a home that feels more peaceful, Lisa gives us small, realistic shifts that can make a surprisingly big difference.

And because this is Talking Smack 415, we somehow also get into private jets, stingray-covered tabletops, Debbie’s leopard print obsession, Jamie’s house full of men, toilet seats, Botox and bangs.

Because... obviously.

🎧 Listen, subscribe, rate and share.

Talking Smack 415: Laughter and friendship to feed your soul.

You can find all things Lisa Morton:

PurelivingwithLisaMorton

@purelivingwithlisamorton

Book: Aligned at Home

Feng Shui Living Podcast

Share this episode with your friends and family who love to laugh. Subscribe to Talking Smack 415 and leave us a rating and review so more peeps can find us for laughter and friendship to feed your soul!

This month's Deep & Shallow gets a little deeper than usual. Jamie the Great updates us on her oral cancer journey and the experimental treatment she’s currently undergoing for precancerous lesions in her mouth. The good news? The treatment is working. The not-so-good news? It hurts. A lot.

Jamie talks candidly about what it’s like to live with ongoing oral cancer monitoring, travel to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute every three months, undergo a painful six-week treatment, and still try to show up for work, workouts, family and everyday life when eating, sleeping and even talking hurt.

She also shares the emotional blow of learning that the doctor she trusted throughout this process is leaving Dana-Farber.

As Jamie puts it, right now she feels like she’s “doing life and not living it.”

We talk about the things that help her feel grounded and give her some sense of control, including continuing to work out, trying to follow an anti-inflammatory diet and, in breaking news finally giving up Crystal Light after drinking it since the ’90s.

And because this is Deep & Shallow, we eventually make our way from oral cancer to salmon, sending a kid off to college at UC Santa Barbara, the freedom of walking around in a bikini, New Orleans vs. San Francisco body culture. Plus we go back to our freshman-year cake decorating competition that we bombed!

In this episode we talk about:

• Jamie’s oral cancer diagnosis and ongoing precancer monitoring
• Experimental treatment for oral precancerous lesions
• The painful side effects of treatment
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and specialized oral cancer care
• Losing a trusted doctor during cancer treatment
• Trying to work, exercise and function while undergoing treatment
• Anti-inflammatory eating when your mouth hurts
• Why Jamie finally quit Crystal Light
• Sending a child off to college
• UCSB and Santa Barbara beach life
• New Orleans vs. San Francisco culture
• And our spectacularly mediocre high-school cake competition

If you’re navigating oral cancer, precancer treatment, chronic illness, cancer survivorship, caregiving or the emotional ups and downs of midlife health, we hope Jamie’s story makes you feel a little less alone.

Talking Smack 415: laughter and friendship to feed your soul.

Subscribe, rate, review and share the episode with someone who could use a little Deep & Shallow in their life.

Share this episode with your friends and family who love to laugh. Subscribe to Talking Smack 415 and leave us a rating and review so more peeps can find us for laughter and friendship to feed your soul!