Episode Summary

The gang talks about Top Golf, Halloween, and DOGGGGGGS! Should Richmond have an animal costume contest? Maybe a spooky soiree.

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WARNING: This video is uncut and may contain sensitive or offensive materials. A filtered version of the audio is below.

Published on 11/25/2019

Transcription + Show Notes

Lauren:What’s going on everybody?

Sam:We are officially recording our second episode of Why Richmond is Awesome, a podcast.

Lauren:Cheers.

Sean:Cheers.

Sam:Cheers everyone. Yay. Glad to be here. So, excited. We’re back at mi casa. [crosstalk 00:00:16] It doesn’t look any different, right?

Sean:Thank you.

Alex:Thank you for everyone that watched, listened, to the first episode. Your comments, everything, was really positive, so I guess we did something okay.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:Something okay.

Sam:We really appreciate it. It was really cool. It was fun to hear everybody. What everybody had to say about the podcast, and we’re going to get together all of your [Bellville 00:00:34] guesses as well. We’ll see whose right about that. So, thank you.

Lauren:And, Sam, your house looks just as amazing as it did last time. Are you sure that you guys live here?

Sam:Thank you.

Lauren:Do you actually live here?

Sam:Well, you know what? We had a lot of help, Virginia Tradition Builders, they built it for us, and then we had Nicole Rutledge Design. She was awesome.

Lauren:Oh, God, I love her so much.

Sam:Yep. And if you saw the pics online.

Sean:She’s the best.

Sam:Yeah, [Mindy Ballwall 00:00:58]. She hooked us up, so it’s been really fun. Yep. And you guys are looking stunning in your shirts.

Alex:Oh… This old thing?

Sean:Oh, that old thing?

Lauren:Where did you get that? Whoa.

Alex:Some website. I don’t remember which one.

Lauren:Oh. Yeah.

Sean:Interesting colors. I don’t know why you liked those so much.

Alex:I don’t know. I like these [inaudible 00:01:15] colors.

Lauren:Are they on Instagram?

Alex:Who? The Hokies?

Sean:They’re on Instagram. I would hope so.

Alex:They might be. No. I got it from you guys, but is it Bonfire? Or what’s the best place to order more?

Sam:Yes. We love them. Bonfire’s been great. You want to tell him a little about that?

Sean:Yeah. To grab the shirts? So, it’s an arrow in our bio, right?

Lauren:Link in our bio. [crosstalk 00:01:39]

Sean:At the Richmond Experience on Instagram.

Lauren:But, I mean, you guys didn’t say anything about our new threads. [crosstalk 00:01:46]

Sean:Which are incredibly comfortable, by the way.

Alex:Those are more exclusive. You can’t buy those. You have to be a client, which you guys are, so…

Sam:Okay. All right.

Sean:Nailed it.

Sam:I like it. Glazer Group, what up. You know it’s been voted number one for a while in Richmond, right?

Alex:Three years in a row, but we’ve been in the top three, seven years in a row.

Sam:Wow. That’s really impressive. Way to go you guys.

Alex:Been busy. Thank you.

Sean:Killing it.

Sam:Yeah. So, I’m glad that we’re hanging out today. I wanted to dive right in. We’re going to be talking about some really fun things today. First of all, Sean and I just recently visited Topgolf. Have you guys been there?

Alex:Not Richmond, but…

Sam:All right.

Lauren:We’ve been to the DC one, yeah.

Alex:Alexandria. The one in Virginia. My buddy [Colin 00:02:30] lived up there for a while, and every time we’d go, we’d go to Topgolf.

Lauren:Alex-

Sean:Did you get to play? When you were there?

Alex:Yeah.

Sean:Nice.

Alex:Even though it was always busy.

Sean:Super busy.

Lauren:Alex just couldn’t stop talking about it. I feel like, before I even met him, and when I did meet him, he just… Every time we’d go to DC, all he could talk about was Topgolf, and finally I’m like, “Okay fine, what? Let’s go.”

Alex:We need to go on like, Tuesday. Monday or Tuesday.

Lauren:All right. That’s fine.

Alex:I want to go.

Lauren:Anyway, he was super hyped about it, and then you should’ve seen his face when he-

Alex:They announced it.

Lauren:… read that they was coming from Richmond.

Sean:Oh my God. It’s so great.

Lauren:He was like a child on Christmas morning. I cannot describe.

Alex:So, a little background-

Lauren:Oh, I think I know.

Alex:… I played golf growing up. I was on my high school golf team, but I was never really that good.

Sean:Nerd alert. Nailed it.

Lauren:Is anybody ever really [crosstalk 00:03:20]

Alex:And then after high school, I didn’t play. And like since then, I played like once or twice on my lender, and again, I’m not that good at golf.

Sam:Who’s your lender?

Alex:You know who he is. [inaudible 00:03:29]

Sean:You know who he is. No one else does.

Alex:But, for some reason, every time I go to Topgolf, I’m really good.

Lauren:Really? It must be the alcohol.

Alex:Well, I think it’s like a mindset thing. Like, you go to a driving range, and you hit them all straight, and then you go to play for real and it’s like, slice, hook, [inaudible 00:03:45]

Lauren:Well, a driving range doesn’t have targets, and doesn’t let you know where you need to hit it.

Alex:[crosstalk 00:03:48] This one does.

Lauren:I know Topgolf does, but a normal driving range, you don’t have that.

Alex:[inaudible 00:03:54] straight.

Sean:Kind of.

Alex:So, long story short, I’m good at driving ranges, so I’m good at Topgolf?

Sam:Okay.

Lauren:No. Here’s where that’s different, because you hit… A normal driving range, you hit it crooked, but at Topgolf you hit it crooked, but it still, might go into the hole.

Alex:It goes into a different one.

Sean:True. It depends on what game you’re playing. Exactly.

Sam:All right. Fair enough.

Sean:We did try the-

Alex:So, you guys went? You’ve played at Richmond?

Sean:We played twice.

Alex:But, I imagine it’s similar to other ones?

Sean:Yes. We went to the other one in DC, and there was a two and a half hour wait. So, we just watched football, and [crosstalk 00:04:27]

Lauren:What was your favorite part of Topgolf, Richmond?

Sean:So, I only want to play from the third story, because I don’t like people hitting the ball above me, because then it’s confusing, and you don’t know which ball’s yours.

Lauren:Can you request that? I’m sure you can.

Sean:We’ve requested it both times, and they gave it to us, so that was awesome. Then… What was that trainer thing that we use? Which was really helpful. We went to the Swing Suite, which is kind of the trainer you can use. It’s like a huge… Like a hundred inch screen that you just practice hitting a virtual Topgolf. Just so you get used to it.

Alex:Lauren. New house, put it in the basement. Just like, you need like a 10 by 10-

Sam:Trying to put a Swing Suite in our basement, of our new house.

Lauren:I want a shuffleboard.

Sean:Oh. Shuffleboard.

Lauren:No. I don’t want shuffleboard. Skee ball. I want skee ball. [crosstalk 00:05:10] If I get skee ball, you can have…

Alex:Shuffleboard would still be cool, though.

Sean:Shuffleboard would be cool too, yeah.

Alex:That’s probably way cheaper, so sure.

Lauren:Done deal.

Sean:The whole basement’s just going to be podcast studio, shuffleboard, gym.

Lauren:We might as well just build an underground bunker. [crosstalk 00:05:24]

Sean:You’re going to need a bunker. The basement is going to be more, sort of [crosstalk 00:05:29]

Alex:Eventually, that will get uncool, and I’ll go to underground bunkers.

Sam:So, you guys are going to make [crosstalk 00:05:34]

Alex:Maybe in like, 50 years, that’ll be cool. We’ll be old. We won’t want to go.

Sam:I enjoy Topgolf. I thought it was fun. I think the guys played the games, and they had a little more fun being competitive, and doing that. The TVs were really nice. There’s a bunch of TVs in there.

Lauren:Is there a TV in every bay?

Sean:There’s three TVs in every bay.

Lauren:In every bay?

Alex:Three?

Sam:In every bay.

Sean:In every bay, there’s three.

Alex:The one’s like a score TV?

Sean:So, there’s a score TV. There’s a ball tracker TV. And then there’s a TV that you can control, by your monitor, to put on whatever you want. It’s really easy to put on there.

Lauren:At least in the one DC, there was like nice couches and lounge space and stuff. So, when you’re not playing, it’s not like bowling, where like you have to shuffle back and sit in that really uncomfortable plastic seat.

Sean:No. This one was comfortable.

Lauren:At Topgolf you get to lounge, and chill. Right?

Sean:I think the first floor might kind of be like standing. Just kind of everyone’s hanging out.

Lauren:Like bar top tables.

Sean:But the third floor, it’s like, you just hanging out. You get the whole [crosstalk 00:06:30]

Alex:The actual what it looks like in Richmond? Or that’s just like a generic one?

Sam:Yeah. That’s the Richmond one.

Alex:This is it?

Sean:That’s what it looks like in Richmond. It looks exactly like that.

Sam:There’s two massive screens.

Alex:Well, it’s probably like the best one, because its so new.

Sam:Yeah. Exactly.

Alex:Oh my God.

Lauren:All right.

Sean:So, we went there on Sunday-

Sam:See? Those two screens at the back? That’s Suite.

Sean:Yeah. Those screens, while you’re hitting-

Alex:Wait. Right here?

Sean:No. All the way at the back. All the way at the back of the course.

Lauren:Oh, back here babe.

Alex:Oh. Oh.

Sean:Those are like 1000 inch TVs.

Lauren:A thousand?

Sam:Yeah. They’re massive.

Sean:They’re enormous.

Lauren:One thousand?

Sean:And it’s clear. Like you can watch-

Lauren:That’s 10 of my TVs.

Sean:You can watch the whole game while you’re just hitting-

Alex:It’s more than that. It’s like 12 of your TVs.

Lauren:Okay.

Sean:We watched football on the second floor too, because we were trying to figure out the best… because we went there on a Sunday at one o’clock, right? So, on the second floor, you can look kind of to the side, and there’s several 100 inch screens, that are all like right beside each other. And they’re all on totally different NFL games. And then there’s an L shape of smaller TVs, that have the other games. So, you can watch the whole thing from the same floor.

Lauren:I hope this isn’t in bad taste. I also want to-

Alex:It is if you have to say that first.

Lauren:No, I just want to bring up Drive Shack, and have we heard of any of [crosstalk 00:07:49] how it compares?

Alex:I have a bet… It’s only like the second one, or the third one, in the country.

Lauren:It’s very much not in the same area.

Alex:And we’re the only city that has both.

Sean:I’ve heard a good thing about Topgolf,[crosstalk 00:07:58] and a good thing about Drive Shack.

Alex:Richmond.

Lauren:Fact. Dropping the knowledge. Okay.

Sean:So, I’ve heard Topgolf has better ball tracking. So, like, we’ll track your ball, and the games are more fun, because where you hit your ball, is actually where it goes.

Lauren:Right?

Sean:But Drive Shack has a huge bar. Compared to… Topgolf has like this little small section, and then Drive Shack has this huge thing.

Lauren:I mean, to be honest, I’m such a bad golfer that…

Sean:It doesn’t matter.

Lauren:I could literally hit the ball, completely behind me and… Right. The ball tracking doesn’t really appeal… I like the fact that it’s there-

Alex:You just like how much fun I have.

Lauren:The accuracy is not the appeal to me.

Sean:When you’re really competitive, and like playing the game like it’s-

Alex:Oh. When you’re really commit to it?

Sean:Yes.

Lauren:Drive Shack’s done some really cool things though.

Alex:Do you want to go right now?

Sean:I [crosstalk 00:08:47]

Alex:We’ll be back, in an hour.

Lauren:Oh, jeez. Forget it. Just like, let them go, because we’ll just stay here and drink wine or something.

Sam:Okay, bye.

Alex:Or, no. You go there, and watch us and drink.

Sean:It’s like walking into a theme park [inaudible 00:08:56]

Lauren:I don’t want to watch you.

Alex:Oh. You want to do it?

Lauren:No.

Alex:Are you really going to care?

Lauren:Yes. I want to… I’m not saying I don’t care. I’m doing it for fun, but-

Alex:I’m doing it for fun.

Lauren:But, I’m doing it for fun. I know that I’m so bad, that I’m not going to beat anybody, so it’s more just the novelty that, it’s fun no matter what, but I’m not there to win.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:Got it.

Sam:I feel you on that.

Sean:The third floor, which we love, has the bar, but then also has the walkout rooftop patio, where you can just kind of hangout.

Alex:What?

Sam:It’s cool.

Sean:And you can order food.

Alex:I drive past it all the time, and I’m just like, “I need to go.”

Sam:So, have you guys-

Alex:So, for people that don’t know where it is, its really close to Scott’s Addition. I guess, just slightly West.

Lauren:How close is it to Bellville?

Alex:I guess, really close?

Sam:If you listened last week-

Sean:It’s probably, a quarter mile?

Sam:Yeah, not far.

Sean:Maybe?

Lauren:So wait, there’s-

Alex:So, if you drive the 195, you’ll see it. You can’t miss it.

Sam:Right.

Alex:Wait. How’s the road noise, when you’re there? Is it even noticeable?

Sam:No.

Sean:Not even… You can’t-

Alex:Because it looks like you’re driving on top of it, almost.

Sean:So the music-

Alex:But, I wouldn’t care.

Lauren:I was going to say, to be honest, if I’m playing Topgolf, the road noise is the last thing I’m thinking about.

Sean:And they have the music just loud enough, where you can’t hear any of that anyway.

Alex:And I know from going to other ones, it’s year rounds. They have heaters. I guess in the summer they have fans, a little like AC blasters.

Sean:Completely weatherproof.

Lauren:I remember when they-

Alex:Well, it’s not weatherproof.

Sam:It started raining when we were there, and then we were covered-

Sean:I’ll be out there in the snow, Alex.

Lauren:Yeah.

Sam:Yeah. It’s fully covered.

Lauren:Even on the [inaudible 00:10:24] floor?

Alex:But the ball would just, kind of like… How would they get the balls if it’s snowing?

Sean:They have to-

Alex:Or is it heated? Like a heated field?

Sean:They actually, like, snowmobiles. [crosstalk 00:10:32] They just break out the snowmobiles, and then they… All right. What else you want to talk about? We covered Topgolf.

Sam:Well, I wanted to… We had brought up Drive Shack, so I just wanted to bring up a couple points.

Alex:Which is in Short Pump.

Sam:It’s… Yeah.

Alex:Like, almost like…. What? 20, 30 minutes apart?

Lauren:You also pass off the highway.

Sam:It is.

Sean:Yep.

Sam:But hey, listen. We’re inclusive of the Richmond region area, so we’re happy to talk about Drive Shack.

Alex:Well, no. I have nothing against it, but Topgolf’s closer.

Sam:It is. It is.

Sean:To us.

Alex:To me.

Sam:Drive Shack did a collaboration with Nightingale Ice Cream, so they have the Arnold Palmer ice cream bar.

Lauren:Stop.

Sam:Yep. That they worked with Nightingale Ice Cream on, and then they also have a brewery, local in Richmond, that they’ve brewed a collaboration-

Lauren:What brewery?

Sean:Which one?

Sam:I don’t remember off hand. It’s escaping me. So, Drive Shack has, I think, done a good job of getting into the roots of Richmond.

Sean:That’s good.

Sam:I wonder if its because its only their third location, and so they’re really trying to [crosstalk 00:11:30]

Lauren:Well, also they opened first. They opened definitely… Didn’t they open a few weeks before?

Sean:A few weeks before.

Lauren:But I feel like that kind of grabbed peoples attention since it was kind of top of mind in Richmond news, that-

Alex:Hardwood, Drive Shack golden ale.

Sam:There you go. Golden Ale.

Sean:I like it.

Lauren:Yep. I would drink that.

Sean:And Nightingale Ice Cream, Fat Elvis is like the best thing in the world.

Sam:Speaking of which, if you’re watching this podcast, jump over to The Diamond quickly. They’re the… You know they work with COTU, Center of the Universe, for their beer. And its been Chin Music, the featured beer at The Diamond for the past couple of the years. Well, COTU’s brewing a new beer. Its a cross between a IPA and a Gose, I’m pretty sure, and they’re looking for name suggestions. So, if you want to help name the next beer of The Diamond, that’s happening now.

Alex:So, it’s a IPA-

Sean:Gose mix. Which is odd, but sounds awesome.

Sam:Again, don’t quote me on that.

Alex:Sour.

Sean:Sour IPA.

Sam:Something light and refreshing maybe?

Sean:It’s basically a sour IPA.

Sam:Sour nuts?

Alex:Sour nuts?

Sam:I like it.

Sean:Sour nuts? It makes sense for The Diamond.

Sam:Submit it.

Alex:Just Sour Nuts.

Sam:I’m writing this down.

Lauren:Okay.

Alex:Well, not all Gose’s are really that sour.

Sam:Yeah.

Alex:I need to try it first. Do you have any? Are you about to pull some out from under the table?

Sean:I hope you have them.

Sam:I wish I did. Can you give us a quick google, just to verify that it is a Gose mixed with a IPA? That could be wrong.

Sean:What are we googling?

Sam:The COTU, and Flying Squirrels beer collaboration.

Alex:I just hope that the screen chair can’t see how bad I spell.

Sean:You just googled Flying Squirrels.

Sam:You need to put in COTU. C-O-T-U.

Sean:Flying Squirrels, and everything about them. Google, tell me. There you go.

Sam:Let me get a google.

Sean:Nailed it.

Alex:Is that the newest story?

Sean:That’s the one.

Sam:All right, what’s it say?

Sean:All right, what are they making? Name the beer.

Sam:Nope. That was from 2013, that’s not the right article.

Sean:Dammit.

Sam:Good job.

Lauren:Sorry guys.

Sam:Update five days ago. Click that one.

Alex:They want you to name a beer.

Lauren:Wait. But it’s going to say what it is.

Sean:This is very similar-

Alex:Done for the year.

Lauren:Its described as a light, crisp, grapefruit flavored Weiss beer.

Sam:Oh, sorry. Then had nothing to do with an IPA. Sorry.

Lauren:So, that more like a-

Alex:Berliner Weisse. Which is like a Gose.

Lauren:Yeah. Is that kind of like a Blue Moon?

Sam:Similar.

Alex:No. A Berliner Weisse’s have like a sour hint to it.

Sean:A little sour, yeah.

Lauren:Alex is our resident beer expert, here at[crosstalk 00:13:48]

Sean:Beer expert.

Alex:Do you remember when we went canoeing, and I was like obsessed with that beer that had a limo on it. Like the Evil Twin Brewing.

Sean:Had a what on it?

Alex:It was like a little limo.

Sean:A limo?

Alex:That was like my first experience…

Lauren:A little limo.

Alex:Yeah, like a limousine.

Lauren:A little limo.

Sean:A little limo, which was…

Alex:It was my first introduction to sour beers, and I got obsessed, and I started trying all these different sour beers, and I either loved it, or just hated it. And my taste buds.

Sam:I hate IPAs, but Alewerks just brewed a beautiful beer for the folk festival, The Hazy Folk, and it was really, really good.

Sean:I like extra hazy IPAs. Like, the ones that are all cloudy.

Sam:Alewerks. And it was really impressive.

Alex:SO, I don’t think [crosstalk 00:14:24] they’ve gotten so popular, you can’t just say, “I don’t like IPAs.” Because there’s like, 20 different types.

Sean:So many differences. Yeah.

Alex:Yeah. There’s the hoppy, piney, West Coast. There’s the hazy New England, and everything in between. There’s milkshake IPAs. There’s sour IPAs. It’s its own category, with its own bunch of different-

Lauren:I’m thinking on the new name for the Flying Squirrels beer, but their last beer was Chin Music. Do we know how that name came about?

Alex:Isn’t it like, if you give someone chin music in baseball, you like hit up… The pitcher hits him with the ball on purpose?

Lauren:Sure, I’m not a athletic person, so I have no idea.

Sam:How many needs to confirm, lets get in their google.

Sean:I think chin music is like when you throw it high, and it gets close to their chin. Like you kind of like throw it at the-

Lauren:I kind of like Sour Nuts.

Alex:All right. NLB.com, a pitch that is thrown high and inside, near the batters head.

Sean:Yeah.

Sam:Okay.

Sean:Nailed it.

Alex:And then you can see that guy [crosstalk 00:15:20]

Sean:So, if you wanted to make another-

Lauren:I think it should be called Sour Ump.

Sam:Oh. Okay.

Sean:I like Sour Ump.

Alex:But it depends how sour it is.

Lauren:I kind of like the Sour Ump.

Sam:Ooh. Funky Ump.

Lauren:Funky Ump.

Alex:Or Sour [inaudible 00:15:33]

Lauren:Or Funk Fire. Funk-pire.

Alex:Funk-pire? Like an umpire, but funk?

Sean:Funk-pire?

Lauren:It sounds like vampire.

Sam:Funk-pire. All right, we’re going to submit these on behalf of the Why Richmond is Awesome podcast.

Alex:If you have any recommendations, send them in, please.

Sam:Sour Nuts. Funky Ump, and Funk-pire.

Lauren:Now that I have-

Sean:I really think Funk-pire is going to win.

Lauren:Now that I have vampires on my mind, Halloween right?

Alex:A few days away. Its getting close.

Sam:Let’s dive right in. I’m so excited. There’s a lot going on in Richmond. So, you guys have lived here longer than us, so what do you guys do on Halloween?

Lauren:Okay. So, we moved into-

Alex:Dress up.

Lauren:We moved into our house about 10 years ago, and every year I buy more candy than a human should possibly be allowed to buy, and we have at least one… No more than one, to four, trick-or-treaters.

Alex:I think the most we’ve had is two.

Sean:One to four.

Lauren:The most we’ve had is two groups.

Alex:Because we live in Stratford Hills, and there’s just not a lot of little kids, who trick or treat. There’s no streetlights, like, I don’t know.

Lauren:It’s a great neighborhood, but it’s an older neighborhood. So, you’re in the city, the schools aren’t the best, so people don’t… I don’t… Just people don’t really have kids there, and so, we never get trick-or-treaters, and it breaks my heart.

Sean:Wonderful.

Lauren:It literally breaks my heart. I buy so much candy.

Alex:So now, you have to eat all the candy.

Lauren:But you know, the one year that I don’t buy candy, they’re all going to come.

Sam:So you buy it every year, just in case.

Lauren:Without a doubt.

Sam:That’s very responsible of you.

Lauren:Without a doubt.

Sam:Okay.

Sean:At least you’re prepared. Either way.

Lauren:What do you guys do for Halloween?

Sam:We’ve switched it up. So, a couple of years ago, Sean I think, was traveling. I did Halloween on Hanover. Have you guys done Halloween on Hanover?

Lauren:I have never, but I’ve heard it’s epic.

Sean:You should. Every single house.

Sam:The thing to do. It’s a big sight to see.

Lauren:They close the street down.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:And there’s like a whole Stranger Things house. Like, where the whole front of it-

Lauren:Is there a Demogorgon?

Sean:Yes. There is.

Alex:Do they have like floating, like white things?

Sean:I don’t remember that part, but there’s that, and there’s a Ghostbusters house. There’s like-

Alex:So, every house is themed?

Sean:Every house is themed. It’s like illegal for one house not to participate.

Sam:No. There’ll be like a couple here and there that don’t participate.

Alex:Then everyone boos them.

Lauren:Nobody likes them.

Sam:But, they decorate their street. If you’re listening to this and you’re that house, you suck.

Sean:Please participate.

Lauren:I mean, I guess if they’re dead it’d be cool, because it’s Halloween.

Sam:Yeah.

Sean:That’s a good point.

Sam:We should visit their house and check that out. Right? And when I say that, I mean, I don’t hope they’re really dead. That would be really bad.

Lauren:I know. That’s kind of mean. We take that back. We’re really sorry.

Sean:Really sorry about you not participating.

Lauren:Trick or treat?

Sam:Give us candy.

Sean:But yeah, it’s awesome. That whole thing. We’ve been there several years, and-

Sam:Up in Church Hill, they do a Halloween parade. That is fantastic. It’s a really good time. That’s something you should definitely see, if you live in Richmond. So, put that on your list.

Lauren:Is it during the day, so you can like see all the fancy floats and stuff.

Sam:Yeah. So, it transitions from like, you know-

Lauren:So, like early evening?

Sam:Yeah. Enough so that you can see it. And it’s a very inclusive festival, so they make it very clear that they want all kinds of Richmonders to come. And they have music and a lot of people dress up, and it’s a good time. So, definitely check that out.

Sean:There’s a lot of ghost tours around downtown too.

Alex:Well, Richmond’s old. There’s probably a lot of ghosts.

Lauren:I love ghosts.

Sean:A lot of ghosts.

Sam:Have you guys one any of the ghost tours?

Alex:Who here has seen a ghost? Just me?

Sam:Just you.

Sean:Just you.

Alex:Okay.

Sean:If there’s a story, go for it.

Alex:I’ve seen two, but I feel like it’s going to come off lame, because I was like eight, but… So, my mom, right around-

Sam:You’re going to tell the story anyway?

Alex:I’ll make it-

Sean:Listen up.

Alex:I’ll make the better one quick. I don’t know.

Lauren:I feel like the only thing that makes it valid, is that his mom’s house is like 200 years old.

Sean:So they’re old ghosts?

Alex:Right around when I was born, my mom built a house, on what’s like Stonehenge on, if you’re familiar with, Chesterfield. And then she had also like, within the same year bought a farm out in Jetersville, which is in Amelia. It was a farm house built in 1823. And just growing up, they all like always talked about like weird stuff happening. So, like I think it definitely was a kind of programmed in our brain. Like, this house is haunted. Like something’s weird. But I’d never seen anything myself, so it wasn’t that bad. And then, I don’t know my exact age, I’ll just say eight. I was upstairs brushing my teeth. What?

Lauren:You said that very exactly.

Sean:I’ll just say eight. [crosstalk 00:20:01]

Sam:And then like, that’s just a guess.

Alex:Brushing my teeth in the mirror, and I looked down and then I look up, and there was a Civil War soldier. I don’t know if it was like a Confederate, or Union Blue? I don’t know. Is that Confederate? It was probably Union, I don’t know. And he had his hand on my shoulder, and then onto my other side, there was like this redheaded kid, who was like maybe 12.

Lauren:Wait. You had a two in one ghost story? Weird.

Alex:And I froze, and behind me was a exposed brick wall. Could’ve been about three feet behind me, and I don’t know how long it was. It felt like forever. And I turned around and there was just brick, and I turned back and it was just, they were gone. Just ran screaming, “Mom!” I did not sleep easy in that house, ever again.

Sean:Wow.

Sam:Wow. That’s crazy.

Alex:And there’s probably everyone out there being like, “Oh, he’s crazy. That’s dumb.”

Sean:We should encourage other people-

Lauren:Are you sure you’re not dead right now, and you’re actually a ghost?

Sean:You may be a ghost.

Alex:No.

Lauren:Wait. Maybe you were the ghost in their reality.

Sean:Maybe they’re real.

Alex:They were standing there, and some ghost kid popped up brushing his teeth.

Sam:Yeah.

Lauren:They’re like, “What is he doing?”

Sam:What is that guy doing?

Alex:The second time I was at my grandma’s in Northern Virginia, and I woke up in the middle of the night, and it was this like nine year old girl, just sitting there, knitting, looking at me.

Sam:That’s really freaky.

Alex:And then-

Sam:You’re kind of making me uncomfortable.

Sean:Yeah. It’s getting kind of scary.

Alex:I swear to God, to my core, this happened.

Sam:I love this.

Sean:Me too.

Lauren:Meant to be.

Alex:We were meant to be.

Lauren:Meant to be.

Alex:And the afterwards, I noticed there was some like, nine year old’s picture on the wall. It looked really old, and it was like my grandma’s mom’s cousin. I don’t know how they’re related, but there was twins, and one of them died.

Sam:Whoa. Maybe it was the twin that visited you.

Alex:But they were like, nothing weird had happened before, but ever since then, I hated going to my grandma’s, so it was like, I don’t know.

Sam:You hated going to your grandma’s?

Alex:Well, no. I just got uneasy when it came time to sleep, because then it was dark out.

Sam:Yeah. That ghost was going to come get you?

Lauren:I wish I had that-

Alex:Well, no. The ghost never did anything mean, or bad, but it’s just weird, and it kind of freaks you out.

Lauren:Honestly, I think I, at this point in my life-

Alex:Now, I would love to see a ghost.

Lauren:… 32 years old-

Alex:20 years, 30 years later.

Lauren:A ghost could hold a knife over me, and I’d be like, “Bedtime. Bye” Like, they would not keep me awake.

Sam:Nothing will stop her from napping.

Lauren:They would not keep me awake.

Sam:Well, speaking of ghosts. So, the annual Richmond Zombie Walk happens.

Lauren:Is that in Carytown, right?

Sam:It is.

Lauren:I’ve heard about it.

Sean:What is that again?

Sam:Have you guys seen it?

Lauren:I’ve seen pictures, through articles.

Sam:It’s really good. So, the funny thing is, is Sean and I had walked over to Garden Grove from our house, like three or four years ago now. And we had no idea that the Carytown Richmond Zombie Walk was happening. [crosstalk 00:22:33]

Lauren:Wait. That’s pretty much like seeing ghosts!

Sam:So, we just get to Garden Grove, and we’re having a drink or two, and then, you know, the next thing we know… Oh, we had brought the dogs, actually. We’re hanging out on the patio. We had the dogs. Garden Grove is a dog friendly brewery and urban winery, like inside and out. So, we’re hanging out, and then the next thing you know, we just seeing these like gaggle of old zombies coming up the street.

Lauren:A gaggle?

Alex:A gaggle? Is that the official term?

Sam:Yeah. No.

Sean:One guy had like a can… Like, half of a can stuck in his forehead.

Sam:So, the following year, we went as a dead bride and groom, and it was really fun. We had such a good time.

Alex:Did you wear your actual wedding dress.

Sam:I wore a wedding dress.

Alex:Your?

Sam:No, a wedding dress.

Lauren:Where did you get a wedding dress?

Sam:At a thrift shop.

Lauren:That’s pretty bad ass. And you just tear that shit right out of the [crosstalk 00:23:15]

Sean:It was really fun.

Alex:Was it like an old school wedding dress?

Sam:No, it was like-

Lauren:Like the lace all the way [crosstalk 00:23:19] Like Frankenstein’s bride.

Sean:We put like the fake blood, and the whole thing, and then I cut up like the suit, and everything.

Sam:And then we like, splashed it all over.

Sean:It was really fun.

Lauren:Is that when you had your dogs with you? Or no, that was before.

Sam:We did it the following year. Yeah. So, the first year we were blindsided by the zombies, and then the next year we’re like, “Well, we’re going to do it.” So, we had a party at our house, beforehand. We did brunch and Mimosa’s, and everybody came over as zombies, and then we all went to the zombie walk.

Lauren:That’s so cool.

Sam:And it benefits the American Heart Association too. It’s really cool.

Alex:When is it this year?

Sam:I think it’s October, the 26th, this year. It’s usually on a Saturday, before or after Halloween.

Alex:We’re doing a client Halloween party.

Sam:You are? That sounds awesome.

Alex:Too bad you’re out of town.

Sam:I know. Well, we did get [inaudible 00:23:59] but it’s going to be fun. You guys are like doing a [inaudible 00:24:02] appreciation event, and having like a bounce house and popcorn.

Alex:Cotton candy machine. Pumpkin decorating contest.

Lauren:Costume contest, for the adults.

Alex:Oh, and then later. So, we kind of broke it up. Like, kid themed earlier in the day, and then adult theme later in the day. We’re having Tazza cater. We’re doing pizza earlier.

Sam:I don’t know any other real estate agent that does that. You guys just did a Why Richmond is Awesome episode on Tazzo, didn’t you?

Alex:I know. It was delicious.

Sean:Yes.

Lauren:I can’t wait to see it.

Sean:I love Tazza.

Sam:That’s going to be a good video.

Alex:So, it was our first restaurant video, the way we did it, like this format, from eating food on camera. And I love their goat cheese and bread.

Lauren:I know you do.

Sean:Oh. Goat cheese.

Alex:So I went to eat it, like I normally would, where it’s like a whole piece of [crosstalk 00:24:45] bread, and I got cheese all over me and it dripped on the table, and Sam’s in the background going, “Alex! Small bites.” And I’m like, “I’m just eating it like normal.”

Lauren:This is my life.

Sean:This is my normal bite.

Sam:Yeah. It’s going to be good.

Lauren:Okay. Question. Do you guys dress your dogs up for Halloween?

Alex:Yes.

Sean:We don’t, but we should, I believe.

Sam:Our son Charlie, has a cone on right now ,and I’m half tempted to just stick an olive in there, and be like, “Martini.”

Sean:Nailed it.

Lauren:I’ve seen ones where the dogs like the Pixar, with the cone and the Pixar.

Sam:Yeah. We can go a bunch of different ways with them.

Alex:So, dog costumes are the best. Because they’re so cute.

Lauren:Wait. Are their any dog costume competitions in Richmond? Because that’s what I want in on.

Sean:That’s a good idea.

Alex:How do you pick a winner?

Sam:I know. They’re all the goodest boys. Yeah. So, actually, for Halloween, I’m Stony Points having a Howl-o-ween. Yep. Dog themed Halloween bash, at Stony Point Fashion Park, which is an outdoor mall in Richmond. [crosstalk 00:25:49]

Lauren:I just love Stony Point. It’s so close to us, but-

Sam:Super dog friendly.

Lauren:It is very dog friendly. And they have a little sticker, if you are going to take your dog inside…

Alex:We have water holes.

Sam:Yeah, they’re doing a Halloween costume contest.

Sean:That’s cool.

Alex:All the dogs need water.

Sam:Yeah. But so, you guys have dogs, right? Tell us about your dogs.

Lauren:We have three dogs. We have… They’re all mutts. They’re all from Richmond Animal League, which is in Midlothian, right off of Midlothian turnpike. And they’re just the most beautiful creatures you could ever imagine.

Alex:At Glazer Dagos, at David with the pearls, if you want to see.

Lauren:Yeah, we have… So, we have a little puppy named David.

Alex:Have you not seen them?

Sean:Not the David with the pearls. I’ve seen the Glazer Dagos one.

Lauren:She wears pearls. She wears a pearl necklace. And then we have Maybe. We call her the Maybesitter, because she takes care of all the other dogs.

Alex:She’s the oldest.

Sean:The Maybesitter.

Lauren:And then Meeko is the… She’s like-

Alex:She was the baby, but now she’s not.

Lauren:She’s like the aloof, like teenager.

Alex:I call her the emo.

Lauren:Yeah. She wants to know that you want her, but she doesn’t want [crosstalk 00:26:52]

Alex:She plays hard to get.

Lauren:Correct.

Sean:So, she’s like a cat?

Lauren:Yeah.

Sean:Kind of.

Alex:No, but yes.

Sean:Not like that.

Lauren:Yes.

Sam:Not really, but yes.

Lauren:Yes, she is like a cat.

Alex:Personality, but she get real dog… More dog than a cat could.

Sean:More dog-ish?

Sam:And you guys live over by-

Alex:Pony Pastures.

Sam:Pony Pasture. So you take the dogs down there?

Alex:Yeah.

Sam:Tell me about that.

Alex:We try, but we’re so busy, but yeah. Couple of times a week, and then we also use Canine Adventures.

Sam:Oh yeah. They’re awesome.

Alex:Do you also use them?

Sam:They’re awesome. No. We haven’t used them for our dogs, but we’re very familiar with their mission. They help a lot of animal shelters out too.

Lauren:They do. They do. And actually funny you say that. Whenever… So, we support Richmond Animal League a hundred percent, whenever we help sell a listing, we donate a certain amount of money towards Richmond Animal League. [crosstalk 00:27:38] And then anytime a buyer. Yeah, anytime a buyer buys a house [crosstalk 00:27:43]… Sorry, Alex. Anytime a buyer buys a house, we donate a Canine Adventure walk to one of their shelter dogs.

Sean:Oh, that’s cool.

Sam:That’s really nice.

Lauren:And yeah, if you sell a listing with us, we donate the amount that it costs for Richmond Animal League to house a pet from the time they get it in, until the time it gets adopted. So, we’re very purposeful in our adoption, or our…

Alex:How we give back.

Lauren:Yeah.

Alex:I found out today that we’re the 35th most donor, in 40 years and we just started three years ago.

Sam:That’s crazy.

Sean:That’s awesome.

Alex:So, now we have a new goal to be number one, but someone just donated $1 million and they’re number one.

Sam:Okay.

Alex:So, it might take a while.

Sean:Might take awhile.

Sam:If you set your mind to it, you could do it.

Lauren:I think she was dead.

Alex:Well, no. Yeah, it was her estate.

Sean:We going back to Halloween again?

Lauren:Yes.

Sean:A Halloween ghost donor.

Lauren:Okay. Tell me your dogs, and what they’re going to be this year.

Alex:So, it’s Chase and, what’s the other dog’s-

Sam:Chance.

Alex:Chance

Sam:It’s Chance, and Charlie.

Sean:Chase.

Alex:It’s a lot of C names.

Sam:I know. Well, so we got Charlie first. She’s our Christmas doggy. We rescued her.

Alex:Oh, David’s ours!

Sam:Yep. We rescued her right around Christmas. We picked her up. Actually-

Lauren:Charlie?

Sam:Charlie did, yeah. We picked her up Christmas Eve, right before they were getting ready to close between Christmas and New Year’s, the shelter was closing-

Lauren:They were, like, trying to clear the shelter?

Sam:We adopted them from Richmond Animal Care and Control on Chamberlain Ave, it’s the only city shelter. Yep. No kill shelter. They’re amazing. We love them.

Lauren:They’ve rescued a rabid raccoon from our yard once or twice.

Sam:That’s awesome.

Alex:Wait. RACC? Is that the same as?

Sam:RACC. Richmond Animal Control.

Alex:Animal Control rescued a rabid raccoon from our yard?

Lauren:You don’t know what… It might have gotten adopted by some loving family. Keep going Sam, keep going. It’s fine.

Alex:Did it have rabies or dysentery?

Sam:And then a little less than a year later, we were sitting on the couch after taking a trip, and Charlie was at a holiday barn. She was being boarded, and they were giving her a bath, and then I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw that Richmond Animal Care and Control was doing a clear the shelters for Thanksgiving. Specifically, don’t leave a dog in the shelter alone, on Thanksgiving.

Lauren:That’s how we got one of our dogs.

Sean:And who can say no to that.

Sam:So, there you go. I looked at Sean and I was like, “We’re going to the shelter right now.” And we ran… Like, he was like, “Absolutely not. No.” Five minutes later, we were in the car and we grabbed a dog. Yeah. We literally just, we went to holiday barn, we threw Charlie in the car, because you had to bring your dog, if you had, to meet.

Sean:To like, socialize.

Sam:Yep. And we walked in and were like, “She is a super dominant female, just give us whatever you have.” And out walks Earmuffs…

Lauren:Wait, his name was Earmuffs?

Sam:Yeah. Because his ears are cut [crosstalk 00:30:22]

Alex:We need to go over all our dogs shelter names, because they’re [inaudible 00:30:26]

Lauren:Earmuffs is so cute.

Alex:That is cute.

Lauren:Wait. But, tell me about your other dog’s God given name.

Sam:Oh, I’m coming to that.

Alex:God given? Or government name?

Sam:He ended up with Chance, because when we threw him in the car, I said to Sean, “Because this was my idea, why don’t you name him?” And he said, “Let’s name him Chance, because there’s a chance we’re going to keep him.” And so that’s exactly how we ended up with Chance.

Alex:Our dog Maybe…

Sean:Oh, that’s a good idea.

Alex:But, we knew we were going to keep her, before we called her Maybe.

Lauren:Our dog’s name is Maybe, and everybody says, “What’s her name?” And I’m like, “Maybe.” And they give me this weird look, and I was like, “Maybe we’ll keep her, maybe we won’t.

Alex:Arrested development.

Lauren:I love it.

Sam:She better behave.

Alex:So, all of our dogs are named coincidentally after TV or movie characters. Maybe, from Arrested Development. David, from Schitt’s Creek and then Meeko is the raccoon from the animated Pocahontas.

Sam:Did you guys struggle to pick a dog name?

Alex:No, we normally have the dog name before we ever meet the dog.

Lauren:Correct.

Sean:Interesting.

Alex:And then when we try the dog that fits the name, we’re like adopt. O

Lauren:Yeah.

Sam:So, yeah. Sean and I like… We really had a hard time when we landed on Charlie.

Alex:You should’ve called us.

Lauren:I mean, we like made lists. We gave each other like [crosstalk 00:31:30]

Alex:Imagine when you try to have a child.

Lauren:We gave each other like, veto. Kind of like friends, we gave each other a certain number of vetoes [crosstalk 00:31:38]

Sean:We did like a whole veto list.

Alex:That’s intense.

Sam:It took weeks for us to agree on a name.

Alex:Ours was so easy.

Lauren:So, with Meeko, she… Okay, have you guys ever been to Hogshead Cafe?

Sean:I’ve heard of that.

Alex:It’s on Broad.

Lauren:It’s on Broad Street.

Alex:Kind of near the Costco.

Lauren:It’s going to sound inappropriate, but it’s not, but they have a meal. It’s this giant foot-long hot dog, smothered with stuff, but it’s called the boner, or the big boner. And anyway, everything… They have like chicken fried bacon, dipped in sausage.

Sean:Chicken fried bacon.

Lauren:It’s just like a Southern meal dream. Anyway, they have little Trivial Pursuit decks on every table. So, while you’re waiting for your food, you can Play Trivial pursuit with each other.

Alex:And one was Disney.

Lauren:And one was the… Yeah, one was the question of the raccoon in Pocahontas, and then he was Meeko, and I was like, “That’d be a really cute dog name.” And Alex is like, “Okay.” And then two weeks later, I saw this adorable puppy and I was like, “I want it.” And he’s like, “No.” And I was like, “But we’d name it Meeko.” And he was like, “Okay.”

Alex:So, we weren’t planning to adopt Maybe. So, we’re real, obviously, tight with Richmond Animal League. The shelter, or the puppy mom, is Sharon Hooper. And she’s like, “Hey. We just got, you know, a mom with a bunch of puppies.” And she’s like, “I’ve been doing this for like three or four years. This is the most obedient, well tamed, cool dog. If you’re looking for a new dog, you should consider her.” And we’re like, “Yes, yes, yes.” And so, where that would’ve taken it from lady to Maybe, we’d be at two, and we thought that’d be fine. But by the time we went to adopt her, she ran into who is now Meeko, her original name was Dakota. And what was Meeko’s original name?

Lauren:But, Meeko’s sister’s name was Clover, which is so cute.

Sam:Clover’s cute.

Lauren:Anyway, Maybe’s name was Virginia, because we named her, and she had a litter of puppies. We got to name her, and her puppies. So, we named her Virginia.

Alex:Wait. I don’t know if it’s recorded [inaudible 00:33:37] but I’ll put up a picture of Meeko, so people can see her as a puppy.

Lauren:All right. So, we named the mom Virginia, and then we named all her puppies, like roads around Richmond? So, there’s like Kary, River, Floyd-

Alex:[crosstalk 00:33:49]

Sam:Such a good idea.

Sean:I like it.

Sam:Don’t tell people where we live.

Lauren:Because as realtors, what else do you do. So, anyway, all the puppies got adopted, and we ended up adopting Virginia. But we changed her name to Maybe, because the name Virginia is stupid. And I can say that, because I named her Virginia.

Sam:Okay, fair enough. Okay. So if you’re listening to this podcast and you’ve made it this far, congratulations.

Lauren:So sorry.

Sam:Obviously, we’re dog people, and we want to see your dog. So comment, tell us your dog’s names.

Alex:Send us pictures.

Lauren:Tag us.

Sam:Where you got them from. What their names was at the shelter. You know, what their name is now. If you can share a picture, we’d love that too. We want to see all the dogs of Richmond.

Lauren:Okay. So, I know that you guys’s Charlie was Earmuffs.

Sam:No. Chance was Earmuffs.

Lauren:Chance was Earmuffs, what was Charlies name?

Sam:Dingleberry.

Alex:No.

Sam:Yes.

Sean:Who in their right mind names a dog that?

Alex:That’s not appropriate.

Sam:She came in, like one, yep… Couple of weeks before Christmas, and had a dingleberry on her butt, and that was it. She became dingleberry.

Alex:Well, Maybe had that once, so…

Sean:She was the cutest [inaudible 00:34:52]

Lauren:Okay, so one of our previous dogs, Lady, her name when we adopted her was Aunt Gerdie, and I did not think that it could get worse than Aunt Gerdie-

Alex:But Dingleberry [crosstalk 00:35:02]

Lauren:But I think Dingleberry takes the case.

Alex:You win. That’s the worst shelter name

Sean:Nailed it. That’s pretty bad.

Lauren:Wait. A serious question. How many dingleberries has she had since?

Sean:A few.

Sam:Couple. That’s always Sean’s responsibility.

Lauren:Okay. So the name is fitting?

Sam:She doesn’t forget where she comes from, is what we’re saying.

Alex:Of course it is.

Sean:It’s just as gross.

Sam:We’ve had a lot of fun. I think this has been really good. Obviously, I think, we really got into the dogs thing.

Alex:Should we keep doing it?

Sam:We’re huge dog people. I think so.I mean, we’re on episode two.

Alex:Should we do another episode next week?

Sam:Yeah. What do you guys think? I mean, talk to us and let us know? Liking, follow, and comment. We want to hear your feedback. If there’s something that you’re curious to know more about, drop that in the comments as well and we’ll make sure. Please leave us a review. We would love to hear what you think. It’s super helpful, and tell your friends about it as well. But I think that’s it. For now, I’ll just head out and see you guys next week.

Lauren:Cheers.

Sean:Cheers. Later [inaudible 00:35:56]

Alex:See you next week.

Sean:Nailed it. I’m going to eat this food.