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No guest. Just Jen and Rachel, a bottle of rosé, some very big news, and the return of one of the OG segments.

Episode 43 has a lot going on: Jen paid off her student loans (HALLELUJAH). The Trend Decoder made its triumphant comeback. The whole Cole family had a Music Man moment. And Rachel officially became a Swifty — live on air. Reputation precedes her, indeed.

📱 TREND DECODER IS BACK

Listener Tracy requested the comeback and we delivered. Jen reads each trend cold, Rachel guesses what it means, and then we riff. Rachel has zero prep. That is the whole point.

Trend #1 — “Hallelujah”: Justin Bieber’s Coachella performance spawned this wholesome gratitude trend — list things you love, add “hallelujah.” We made our own list on air. Top entries: paid off my student loans, cold pillow at bedtime, perfectly poured glass of wine, and chicken wings landing in ranch. (Rachel’s contribution. No notes.)

Trend #2 — “My Top 5 Horror Stories”: Not actual horror films — people list real-life fears and everyday icks that feel like a horror movie. Rachel’s guesses went immediately to being eaten alive and trapped underground cannibalism. She got there eventually. Two points out of three.

Trend #3 — The NYT Taylor Swift Interview: The New York Times Magazine named Taylor one of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters. In a 30-minute video interview, she talked songwriting, rant bridges, and how Reputation didn’t land until 6–7 years later — specifically calling out “...Ready For It?” Which, not coincidentally, is tonight’s Hits Different song.

🎉 THE BIG PERSONAL WIN

Jen paid off her undergraduate student loans today. First thing this morning. After nearly 20 years. She sat with it for a minute. We all should.

🎻 THE MUSIC MAN — A WEEKEND IN TWO ACTS

Tim’s favorite musical came to Broadway in Wichita. Friday night: Jen and Tim went, then debriefed over cocktails at Goldfinch. Saturday: Tim’s mom Brenda, Jen’s sons Nick and Nathan, and Tim’s son Riley and his girlfriend Hailey all went together — followed by a family dinner at Sabor (get the salmon). Nathan is the theater kid fresh off a Broadway trip to NYC. Nicholas plays trumpet in band. The Music Man was made for this exact family moment.

Shoutout to our local loves: Broadway in Wichita, Goldfinch, and Sabor.

🎵 HITS DIFFERENT: “...Ready For It?” — Taylor Swift

From Reputation (2017). Assigned to Rachel. Timed perfectly with the NYT interview drop.

Rachel’s take: queen energy, the bass drop kills, and it should be licensed to EDM shows with laser lights immediately. She is filing this under party songs that hit. Also: she officially declared herself a Swifty. We knew this would happen.

Jen’s take: hype song since day one. Volume all the way up. Not six or seven years — since the beginning.

📣 BEFORE YOU GO

• Request a Hits Different song — drop it in our comments or DMs!
• Merch is live: Uncorked and Slightly Unhinged & Messy is My Polished (10% to Ballet Wichita 🩰)
• New merch dropping this summer — we have an inkling.
• Next episode: Krissy Buck, Chair of Digital Wichita, joining us live from WSU Tech’s NCAT campus for everything Digital Day 2026.

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🥂 And we’ll see you next time

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Episode 42 is a just-us episode — and honestly? Those are some of our favorites. Road trips, boutique hotels, anniversary adventures, Record Store Day, and Taylor Swift's "Elizabeth Taylor." Also Easy Cheese. There's a whole Easy Cheese moment. Just go with it.

🎲 This or That: Travel & Adventure Edition

Travel and adventure themed this week — and the conversations went exactly where you'd expect (and several places you wouldn't).

🚗 Road Trip Rituals & The Magic of Going Somewhere

Jen has been on the road two weekends in a row — Oklahoma City and then Kansas City for her and Tim's second anniversary. There's something about being in a car, she said, that makes everything feel more honest.

Rachel also reminded us all of the legendary Unwritten rain window moment from the girls' trip to see Hannah. If you know, you know. 🌧️

🍺 Brewery Hopping as a Love Language
A thing Jen forgot to mention during road trip rituals — and then immediately remembered:

Tim and I always, always stop at breweries on our road trips. If it's a lunch stop, it's a brewery with food. If it's a bathroom stop, we're finding a brewery on the way.

🏨 The Aida Hotel, Kansas City — A Full Gush

Jen booked a one-bedroom suite at the Aida Hotel in Kansas City's arts district (just around the corner from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, home of the famous giant shuttlecocks — more on that in a moment).

The Aida also has a sister hotel called the Truitt. Both are highly, highly Jen-approved.

🏸 The Shuttlecock Situation (It's Fine, It's Fine)

So. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is famous for its giant badminton shuttlecock sculptures on the lawn.

Jen mentioned them. Rachel did not know that shuttlecock was the actual name for the birdie in badminton. A brief but enthusiastic vocabulary lesson followed. Several things were said that cannot be unsaid.

🎶 Hits Different: "Elizabeth Taylor" — Taylor Swift

This week's song: "Elizabeth Taylor" from Taylor Swift's Life of a Showgirl album, chosen by Jen in honor of the Record Store Day release.

💿 Record Store Day Victory

Mills Records in Kansas City is known for over-ordering Taylor Swift releases on Record Store Day. Jen has now successfully scored two vinyl records there:

• Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (several years ago)
• Elizabeth Taylor — the special Record Store Day single (this weekend ✅)

📣 Before You Go

• Got a Taylor Swift song you want Rachel to react to? Send it our way 🎶
• Thinking about Kansas City? The Aida Hotel. You're welcome.
• Want to be a guest on the pod? We're always open — reach out!
• Merch is live — Uncorked and Slightly Unhinged & Messy is My Polished (10% of profits go to Ballet Wichita 🩰)

And as always...

🏸 Shuttlecocks are real and they are hilarious

🥂 Cheers to the chaos

💖 And we'll see you next time

So THIS happened.

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This week's episode went somewhere really special. Jen and Rachel sit down with Jennifer Short — hairdresser, breathwork facilitator, Human Design devotee, and one of the most quietly extraordinary humans in Wichita — inside her salon, Colour Thairapy, for a conversation about transformation, permission, and what it actually means to build a life that feels like yours.

From Hutchinson to Wichita. From the salon chair to the breath mat. From performing loyalty for everyone else to finally giving it to herself. Jennifer's story is the kind that sneaks up on you and then hits somewhere deep.
Grab your wine. This one's worth savoring.

In This Episode

This or That: Wellness Edition - Jennifer joins Jen and Rachel for a wellness-and-mindset-themed round of This or That — and the conversation goes places none of them planned. Highlights include:

Jennifer's complicated (and hilarious) history with journaling — including why written evidence once felt dangerous

Jen's journals thrown in the dumpster by an ex — and Tim's Valentine's Day gift that brought it full circle

Why "outgrow the room or build a bigger one" turned into a full philosophy of life

The moment everyone realized they'd basically agreed on everything — and somehow still had plenty to say

From Hutchinson to Wichita: A New Identity - Jennifer started doing hair in 1997 in Hutchinson — and for years, she was "just a hairdresser," even when she owned the business. Moving to Wichita in 2018 changed everything. She talks about:

Why Hutchinson spoke small to her — and how she believed it

What it felt like when Wichita saw her differently

How COVID gave her clarity instead of taking something from her

The Hive, Human Design & Finding Belonging - Joining The Hive Wichita in 2019 cracked something open. Jennifer shares:

What it felt like to finally be in a room where people truly saw her

Reframing her ADHD brain from a flaw to manage to a superpower to lead with

Being a 2/5 Manifesting Generator — and what it means when people project answers onto you before you've spoken

Breathwork, Sovereign Inhale & the Cellular Shift - Jennifer describes her breathwork journey as "quiet and cellular and permanent" — and unpacks what that actually means:

The difference between masculine and feminine breathwork approaches

How the breath gets us out of our minds and into our bodies

How Sovereign Inhale was born — and what it looks like to offer it to others virtually and in groups

The Soft Life & The Permission Question The question "Who were you waiting for permission from?" stopped the room. Jennifer's answer:

Why building a soft life is the bravest thing she's ever done — and why "soft" doesn't mean easy

The Chair and the Breath Mat Are the Same Work - People ask how a salon and a breathwork practice belong together. Jennifer's answer is always the same: they were never separate. Both are about sitting with a woman in the middle of her becoming and saying — I see you. You are safe here. Let's figure out who you're stepping into next. She's been doing that work since 1997. She just finally has the language for all of it.

🔗 Find Jennifer Short
Colour Thairapy — salon, right off Douglas across from Naftzger Park, Wichita
Sovereign Inhale — breathwork + coaching, virtual and in-person
Instagram: @sovereigninhale
Website: sovereigninhale.com

🛍️ Merch Shop Uncorked and Slightly Unhinged and Messy is My Polished
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