Podcast Episode 17:  Carla Hall

Jean Trebek: She wouldn’t mind.

Alison Martin: No, we were just saying that maybe for this next introduction, we should be eating while we tell you who we spoke to.

Jean Trebek: Because we had the great joy and it was a joy, a real joy to to talk with Carla Hall.

Alison Martin: Carla Hall.

Jean Trebek: Love saying her name.

Alison Martin: I know. And I love her. I love her. I love her.Okay. Carla Hall has just she’s a, I don’t know, a culinary influence. Right. But more than that, she’s like a huge, wonderful, curious personality. When I’ve seen her on so many shows, you know, Top Chef, The Chew, a lot of shows where she’s hosting and she just loves people.

Jean Trebek: And she has such a generous heart because she says, yes, I feel, to a lot of life experiences, you know, she just she exudes like, what’s that French phrase.

Alison Martin: Joie de vie.

Jean Trebek: Joie de vie. She’s just that and she’s just beautiful inside and out.

Alison Martin: And we I loved speaking to her not so much about because she’s done so many things.

Jean Trebek: We tried not to talk to her so much about her food so much. But her but really her heart.

Jean Trebek: Because she has done she’s been an actress, a model, an accountant, an animator. Right? She’s written cookbooks. Right? Right. She’s been a host, a TV personality. She I don’t I don’t even know. We thought we were going to tune in and she would be like, you know, on a loom or something, knitting, doing something amazing. You know, she’s just great.

Jean Trebek: And you know what? She has her own cookware line right now. Oh, right, right, right, right.

Alison Martin: Which I can’t wait.

Jean Trebek: I actually ordered something. Did something for you, too.

Oh, thank you. I love Jeannie. All right, so here’s Carla Hall.

Jean Trebek: So awesome yesterday.What a what a great person you are all around you just.

Alison Martin: And we’ve watched so much of your interviews and stuff and you’re just so funny.

Carla Hall: Well, I’m present. And honestly, my friends are like, I can’t believe you said that. I’m like.Don’t even know what I’m going to say. And every time I say something like, That was so ten minutes ago, and I’m on to the next thing. I don’t hold it. I’m like, No, that was so like 30 minutes ago. So here we go right now.

Alison Martin: So you guys, you two know each other from Helen Keller International?

Jean Trebek: Yeah, we do.

Alison Martin: And you’re both on the board.

Carla Hall: Yes. Right, right.

Alison Martin: So do you see each other on Zoom or do you see each other in person?

Carla Hall: Well, haven’t even been to an in-person meeting for a while because I’m totally out of New York. And so the last few times I’ve been online. Have you been in person, Jean?

Alison Martin: I have been in person. I saw your great beautiful face there just a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I go to New York fairly often because my mom lives there and my son lives in New York. My sister’s there. So on this particular trip, I got to go to the board meeting and I looked up and I was like… Carla!

Carla Hall: I was in a box.

Alison Martin: Carla, what? What interested you about the Helen Keller International? I’m just curious.

Speaker4: So at this point in my career, well, I moved when I went up to New York to do “The Chew”. I left a lot of my foundation work and nonprofits that I was working with in D.C. So I was like, Well, gosh, what am I going to do with all this time? I have, you know, that was in the beginning of “The Chew”, not realizing that the time would be gone.I was doing another foundation while I was doing the Pajama program, but then I realized I was getting hit by so many organizations. And I’m like, wait a minute, I have to figure out what my checklist is to say yes to an organization. And I said, okay, kids, Yes. Something with with work done in Africa, I’m like, I wear glasses. So glasses, you know, like eyesight. And I was going through this list. And then someone from Helen Keller? No, it was actually. It was…. This is menopausal….. It the president. Kathy. Kathy? Oh, my God. It’s real. I’m like, I don’t even remember my mother’s name sometime. And I call her mama. So this is where we are. So just like, I’m like, what? Um, so Kathy reached out to ask me for to dinner, and I was like I said, sure. And I went to a child site facility first because she said they did all this work. And I loved it. And I was there telling the kids, okay, no, not those glasses. Those really aren’t good on you. What about these? These? I said, what about this? And I felt it was a moment that I could relate. And because my glasses are face art and I said, this is going to be a part of who you are. So you may as well pick something that’s cool and nice and something that you like. And so that was really my first intro to Helen Keller. And then I went on to go out to dinner with Kathy, and then and then I went to Vietnam with them and then all the whole thing. And I just I love that organization.

Alison Martin: Yeah, they’re just it’s just so amazing.You know, the thing about you that I think is so wonderful is how you are just you. Not just, but totally you.

Carla Hall: Yeah.

Alison Martin: There’s no agenda. It looks like. It looks like you got no hidden thing…

Carla Hall: You know, it’s so funny that you say that because I tell people I don’t I don’t really like people. I think my superpower is that I genuinely like people. I don’t pretend to like people. I really like people. And I’m interested in people. Even when I see homeless people, that’s not the right term. Now it’s unhoused. When I see unhoused people on the street and they’re like, you know, you know, may I have some money? And I look at them in the eye and I said, Oh, no, thank you, because no thank you. Do I want to participate at this time? But I see you as a person. I will always see you as a person, but I don’t want to participate in the exchange. But my gift to them in that moment is to see them and I will see every single person, no matter who you are or where you are, you know?

Jean Trebek: Yeah, yeah. I love that. That’s so important, you know? And I think every time we see someone, we just actually open them up and we open ourselves up.

Carla Hall: Mhm. Yes. Yes. Even when you’re kind of scared. Um, it’s funny, I, you know, I can be out in the world and I’m a borderline introvert/extrovert, and people would probably assume that I’m an extrovert, but I still have that, you know, that shy person who has to sort of recharge at home. Um, but I went to a class reunion at Howard University and it was with my girlfriend was in a sorority. I didn’t pledge a sorority. So I was in with all of these other girls and I felt myself shut down. And I was like, What? I mean, I was like, oh, my God. I felt that same person who was in college. Like, that person jumped on me so quickly and I had to just talk myself off the ledge. I’m like, What is going on? I wanted to leave the room. I felt like I didn’t belong there. And I and this was like after”The Chew”, I was in “The Chew” at the time. But in that moment I was just like, Oh my God, I feel like I just want to, like, go concave and through the floorboards. How that moment, like, took me right back in an instant to college.

Alison Martin: So what did you do?

Carla Hall: Oh, I’d say I talked myself out of it. I’m like, okay, through it. You can talk to somebody. Like  meet them where you are. And I feel like I think I remember saying to one of the girls, I said, Oh my God, I feel so awkward right now. I feel I feel like I did at 17. You know, and it was just to be honest in the moment with my feelings. And that got me through because I didn’t have to pretend like I was anything but what I was in the moment, you know?

Jean Trebek: Yeah. I think that’s so true. I mean, you look at someone like yourself, very well-spoken, out in the public eye, and then to go, You know what? Wow. I felt really awkward there. Yeah. And it happens to all of us… that part of us…. Alison and I were just talking about it. How some days you feel like you’re on your game and some days you’re just like, I don’t even have a game. I don’t want a game.

Carla Hall: Right.

Jean Trebek:  I just want a TV Tuner.

Carla Hall: Right! You know, a bouncy ball. My claim right now is bouncy ball. Okay. That’s all I got. That’s all I got right now. I can do a bouncy ball. But then there are times when, you know, I’ll have an interview and somebody will say, You’re really good at what you do. And I’m like, Yes, I am.

Alison Martin: Yeah.

Carla Hall: I am.

Alison Martin: Yeah.

Carla Hall: And I’m going to tell you the fact that I can say I am shows where I am in this moment and I feel very confident and I know what I know. And this that you’re talking about. I know, you know. And so there’s that side of me, too. And I’m so proud of her. And I’m so proud that she will show up and speak her truth and say, yes, I don’t play coy. Again, I don’t have an agenda. If I’m feeling awkward, I will tell you, if I’m feeling really high on my game and you ask about it, I will tell you it’s how I’m feeling in the moment. And I think that sense of being vulnerable and sort of sharing with people that moment, I think that’s why I connect with people, because I’m going to tell you exactly how I feel in the moment, even if it’s awkward and weird.

Alison Martin: Because we’ve all been there. But I think it’s interesting when you said, Oh, and I was even on “The Chew” when I went to this reunion, and even though, like you think, well, of course you’re on “The Chew”, but then is there a little bit of like like you think people are expecting you to be on or something like you have any of that?

Carla Hall: 100%! Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think people think that they will see me on television and they think that I’m that way all the time, like on and like this and sassy and laughing and joking. But when I’m tired, I am very much inside of myself and sometimes I have to travel tired and, um, and so I remember getting on social media and somebody had said, Oh, I met you in person and I knew something was off, but you just weren’t the same person that you are, you know, on television. And I wrote back and said, I’m a person. I have my highs and lows and I was tired. And but I said, if you had come up to me, I would have told you that. So you, you know, you also made it. I mean, yes, I was tired, but you put a lot of yeast into it that, you know, I mean, if people come up to me. How are you feeling? Oh, my God, girl, I am so tired. I really am tired. And I also remember one time when I was on “The Chew” and I had to go, I was in New York and it must have been on a Saturday or Sunday whenever they have the street fairs. And I was exhausted. I mean, but I had to go. Maybe I went out to grab something to eat and I was so tired. And I remember thinking, I said, I don’t I don’t even have the energy to smile. And I was like, but I have to smile because I’m out. And people expect me to smile. And I remember just going through this, you know, like this, this twitch in my mouth. And I was like, Oh my God, I feel like I have to smile. Like, no, you don’t have to smile. And I have this this dialogue and I don’t know what I look like to whoever, whomever was looking at me. But I feel like I was kind of like, you know, like. Like this twitch, you know, like smile. No, no, smile. Yeah, but it was so crazy. But I felt like I had to live up to this thing. And then eventually, when I finally got used to this, I guess being on “The Chew” and having people come up to me said, That is not sustainable. So being what people expect me to be is not sustainable. I can only be who I am. Right? And that helped me not only in life, it helped me on television, it helped me in interviews. It you’re going to get the person I am right now if you want it, the person yesterday, then you should have called yesterday because this person right here is going to be the person you get.

Jean Trebek: I love that.

Alison Martin: And I think all of us have that, like, you know. Mothers, office workers, anything. There are these expectations that women feel. I can only speak from being a 65 year old woman. You know that there are these expectations that we feel that, oh, I’ve got to be this now… And maybe we can put that down. You know, I think that’s important for our listeners to hear because I think sometimes we get caught in that, you know?

Carla Hall: I think so and I think so I’ll be 60 next year and I’m so excited about it. I can’t tell you how excited I am. I mean, I’m going to celebrate every woman who turns 60 next year, the entire year. If you were born in…64

Jean Trebek: That’s my same birth year.

Carla Hall: Wait, are you 64? Stop it.

Jean Trebek: Yes 64 is my Birthday year.

Carla Hall: Your birth. Your birth year is 1964.

Jean Trebek: Yeah.

Carla Hall: Oh, my God. I’m adding you to the list. I am making a list. I am making a list of people. Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris. Vanessa Williams. Yardley Smith. Sherry Yard. Now Jane Trebek. Oh, I’m seriously. I’m making a list of all the women who are turning 60. And and there are all these people that we don’t know who are turning 60. And the idea is to celebrate this new station that we are still lively enough to create a new chapter, to have a new adventure, to really step into our wisdom and not step into a place that others think that we are and and whatever. If you want to celebrate your wrinkles, you celebrate your wrinkles, your gray hair, whatever it is. But you get to choose. That’s am I the entire year of 2024. That’s what I’m doing.

Jean Trebek: I love that. You know, I too, have no. Maybe not as like, yay 60, but just like, hey, 60 is fine, 60 is cool. You know, I had more – UGH – when I was turning 40. And now, you know what? Every woman that I love, that’s late. 50s. 60s. 70s. 80s. They are my rock stars. And so we’ll sail into that year together.

Carla Hall: Yes. So happy.

Alison Martin: I’m curious, though, like you were shy as a child? And did you have any of this out there or were you really just that child that was like in the sitting down in the back?

Carla Hall: Yes. I was super, super shy. I mean, I was really shy. I had a lot of boisterous friends. And I had what I felt like a shield of friends around me because I would be behind them. And they’re like, we’re coming through. And I’m like, I’m coming with them. So I’m like, I’m here, too. And I played basketball. I was terrible. But because I was tall, they were like, okay, you get to play. But no, you get to be on the team, but we’re only going to put you in if we’re 50 points ahead and there’s 60 seconds left, so you don’t mess it up. I mean, so that was, you know, I was that person. But then I saw my first play at 12 on Broadway. It was Bubbling Brown Sugar.

Alison Martin: Yes, I saw that on Broadway. It changed my life.

Carla Hall: Yes. I mean, that song, “Nobody” and I don’t remember the words. All I remember is he’s like, Who wants to die? Na na na, Nobody. And who wants to do this? Nobody. Oh, my gosh. My mother was probably regretting the day that she took me to that play because she was like, Carla, clean up your room. But I’m like, who wants to clean up their room? Nobody! If you ask about the room, the trash, I mean, I did that for a month. My sister wanted to pull my hair out. And so my mother said, okay, we’re going to put this girl into theater. And so I feel like theater saved me. Theater saved me from feeling like this. I mean, that play like instantly opened my eyes and I was like, Wow, look at these characters. They are amazing. And the singing and the dancing and just this outward expression of themselves. And so when I did theater, I mean, there was no turning back. And then people were calling me weird. I thought it was a compliment. I’m like, Oh my God, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Did you just call me weird? I love it so much.

Alison Martin: Weird award.

Carla Hall: Right. Got the weird award. Yeah. So I think theater saved me. And then so I did theater from 12 to 17. And I thought that I was going to go on to a conservatory. Boston was the only one I wanted to go to because that’s the one that my acting teacher, Ruth Sweet, talked about. And her her oldest daughter went there and a couple of my friends went there. I was like, That’s the only school for me. And then they were going to defer my admissions. Later on I heard that they were deferring the admissions and hoping that actors would have more life. And so, you know, life experiences and go to undergrad and then go to, you know, get your graduate degree. And so but I saw it as a rejection. So I felt like theater saved me. Then it rejected me. So I turned completely away from it and then did accounting. I’m like, What? Who does that? But like the accounting teacher.

Alison Martin: We were laughing because it was like, wait a minute. She discovered a new species at the ocean depths. She’s a brain surgeon. She’s an accountant. She’s a model. She wanted to be animate. She’s on Top Chef. Else has she done? She’ll be in an operating room while we’re talking

Carla Hall: Doogie Howser. I know, right? I mean, and the funny thing is, I think when I look back at my life and I remember having this conversation with Michael Simon, so we were we were on the set of “The Chew”, and he said, Carla, you have done so many things up to this point, so you are probably not afraid of doing lots of different things. Whereas like, for instance, he had done out of high school, it was food, he did food, whereas I did a lot of other things. So, you know, Madonna Girl, you don’t have anything on me. I can recreate myself. Okay. Okay, girl? We go do this again. Um, so that’s what was. I think I saw that as a plus and an asset, whereas my mother saw it as Girl, can you settle down on one thing? You know what I mean? Because it worried her that she had paid for this education and then I got my accounting degree and then I went on to get my to pass the CPA exam, and that’s hanging up in our house. And so, you know, she would look at this. She’s like, why aren’t you doing this? I’m like, Child, I don’t like that. I hate it. I only did it for you. I finished it, I checked the box and now I’m on to, you know, to find my happiness. I didn’t want to be 40 and hate my job. That was my biggest thing. So 40 was a marker for me. And so when I was on “Top Chef”, it was, um, I was 42? I was 44 when I did Top Chef. And I think a lot of people forget that someone came up to me the other day and said, I’ve seen you from the beginning on Top Chef. I’m like, Well, I was 44. That if that’s the beginning, well, where’s the end? So, you know, um, but yeah.

Jean Trebek: Nice. So. Okay. Carla. I know that you talk a lot about love in your Cooking with Love and all of that. Can you talk a little bit about your spirituality?

Carla Hall: For me, it’s everything. I mean, so I had a really bad breakup when I was 30, 31 or so. It was it was it felt like two of my friends had died because my really good friend started dating the guy that I thought I was dating. But you hear me? That I thought I was dating. Apparently I wasn’t… But, I felt like two of my friends had sort of instantly, like, died at once, and the pain was physical, and my cousin gave me Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love. And I read that book and my cousin said, In a year you will know why this happened. And I remember thinking like in a year’s time, I remember seeing them. At this point, they’re engaged. Before that year, though, I had seen them and they were at a light and they were walking. I was at a light. They were walking across the street and I kind of want to hit the gas. But I grew out of that, you know, I did I kind of want to run them over. But after that point of moving through that, I got to the point where I could actually go to their engagement party and be happy for them. And I was so happy for myself that I could celebrate them because I wasn’t holding myself in that place. And it was because I had gone through this…I’d been going to a church that was all about spirituality versus religion. I grew up Presbyterian and then Catholic, and then it was really about my personal relationship with a higher being. And and really feeling like- I am in control of my life with a higher being and looking at everything like there’s no mistakes in the universe and understanding this, this relationship and everything is a lesson in everything. And every person I see is an opportunity for me to get better. And even when I was wanting to find a mate – I remember writing down on a list and saying, These are the things that I want in my mate, but I have to be those things first before I attract this person. So for me, it was always it wasn’t putting a lot on another person. It was really looking at myself first. And that all came from spirituality. So every single thing that I do is about this path that I’m supposed to lead in this life at this time, and the older I get, the more certain I am of this path and what I’m supposed to do. And it’s almost a relief because things that I think that would maybe trip other people up or other people say, girl, oh my God, did that happened to you? I’m like, Yeah, that person brought me that lesson. And I’m saying it kind of cavalier like, but, but I remember like even on The Chew and you know, I talk about there were a lot of tough and hard lessons that, again, were physical. And I will check in and I will say spiritually, if you say something to me and I will check in, I’m like, well, how do I feel about that? And if it goes to my solar plexus and I feel like literally feel it in my body, it’s for me if I check in and I don’t feel anything, I’m like, Yep, no, that’s not mine. That must be yours. No, I’m not taking that on. And so being that way in my life because I have spent the last, um, gosh, 30 years on this path, I own and take responsibility for everything that happens to me, you know? And that means if I take responsibility for the negative things, I can take responsibility for the positive things, you know? And so I choose to be positive. And so that’s pretty much my spirituality in the nutshell.

Jean Trebek: Oh. I love that. Yeah. I’m a Student of a Course in Miracles,and we read the book. That’s how Alison and I met

Carla Hall: Oh, right. Mean, I love it because there are two. It’s like every emotion comes from love or hate. Every single one. And so when you look at it, you’re like, love? Or is it fear? No fear. Right. Love and fear. And when you look at it like that, it’s just one or the other side just two.

Jean Trebek: But owning it all, like you said, you’re the creator. I am not a victim of the world I see. And when you can turn it back like that, that’s that growth that. Okay, we might not like it. And it feels awful to grow sometimes. But, you know, we are meant to bloom here and to shine our light. And so I didn’t know that about you.

Alison Martin: That’s amazing. Who who do you think in your life right now feeds you emotionally?

Carla Hall: Um, I think my husband, and I have a lot of good friends around me. I have a lot of good girl friends. I want people around me who will tell me when I stink. I don’t need a lot of yes people around me. I want them to check me and say, Carla, girl, you know, that was wrong. But my husband in particularly, um, so we got married. I was, I got married for the first time at 42. And my husband, um, you know, worked in politics and he was working in at the FDA. And so he, you know, he was a lawyer by education. And in 2018, he quit his job to do meditation and yoga.

Alison Martin: Wow.

Carla Hall: It’s like I mean, and that was right before the pandemic. I was like…. Universe. Come on. What? You know what I’m saying? Because he was in the department that was doing the vaccines and you know how stressful that would be in our household. And instead it was like meditations a little ding, ding, ding, sound bathing. And I was like, oh my gosh. So I look at my life and I’m like, wow. It’s like the universe was was fitting us, getting us ready to meet each other. And when we met, it was… So on our rings, it’s parallel lives connect because we had been living close to each other for eight years. But he was married before and I was busy working. We both went to the same university, didn’t know each other at the time, had some of the same people in our lives, but they were separate. And then when we met, we found all of these things out. We discovered all of these things, and I was like, that. That’s that’s God, that’s the universe, you know? And, and so looking at things like that makes me patient for things to come through because I know that they will come through when I’ve done the work or everything is already set. And it’s just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean that things aren’t happening. And working out the way that they should work, you know, because everything that you force and then you get the thing like I forced, I forced a couple of things in my life and I’m like, Oh, yeah, okay. I forced that because it didn’t work out. But something I still learn something.

Alison Martin: It’s so true because we can’t really see the whole, you know, the universe or God’s whole view, you know, and something can be happening over here and it works its way to you. It really, it really it really, really does. Um, do you find that, um, you know, as, as an actor myself, sometimes I feel like that imposter syndrome, you know? And as I’ve gotten older, I realize, I’m really just me, you know, I’m really. This is it. This is the bottom line. And my friend said to me the other day, Oh, I feel so invisible because I’m older. And I said, Be louder. You know what I mean? Like, do you? Right. Have you found that to that as we get older, it’s like, just be it.

Carla Hall: Oh, 100%. And that’s part of wanting to celebrate this, this 60th year. Um, so I also think that we have to change the narrative for ourselves. You know, as women, we need to change the narrative because when people will say, you don’t look 60, I don’t care. I don’t care if I look, I don’t know what the number is, but it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t be looking at another age that is younger than what I am. Okay? I look, I’m not mean, I look good for what my age. I do. Okay? But that is not the point. The point is to feel good in this body and feel good about the wisdom that I’ve accumulated over the years. And if you ask me if I want youth or wisdom, I will choose wisdom all day long, right?

Alison Martin: Yeah, that’s right. What do you do in the morning? Like, what’s your morning ritual?

Carla Hall: So my morning ritual. Okay. It used to be hula hooping and then swishing coconut oil. Okay, don’t do that anymore.

Alison Martin: But joking, though, right?

Carla Hall: No, no, no. I was. I would swish coconut. But the oil pulling, you know, which I do occasionally because when I’m eating a lot of dairy so I do the oil pulling and then to help my gut I would swish. I mean, I would hula hoop while I was swishing. And then because that would like stimulate, you know, your abdomen.

Alison Martin: What is the swishing do?

Carla Hall: So the oil pulling pulls out toxins in your mouth. Like if you wake up sometimes when you have had a lot of dairy or things that your body is like, Girl, don’t eat that, why are you eating that? And it feels kind of sticky and you take in coconut oil because there’s micro microbial and then if you switch from 5 to 20 minutes and then it gets very thin and then you spit it out and not not in the drain, then it takes all of that stickiness is pulling all of those impurities out of your cheeks and your teeth. It helps whiten your teeth as well.

Alison Martin: Wow.

Carla Hall: It’s Ayurvedic.

Alison Martin: I love coconut. Right? We love coconut!

Carla Hall: Have you done it? You’re shaking your head, Jean. Have you done it before?

Jean Trebek: Yes, I have done it. I heard of it from, I think, Gwyneth Paltrow. But yes, but putting the oil in it pulls out bacteria and everything because the mouth just, it all goes down into the stomach and the gut. But it’s a big, big thing. And it was, I don’t want to say it was like a fad, but it was very popular, um, a while ago. But, but like Carla said, it’s Ayurvedic.

Carla Hall: So I was seeing a woman on my for my facials, an Ayurvedic place to get facials and I can’t even remember the name. And in her book, there are all of these things that are thousands of years old. I mean, I think that we will adopt them and say, hey, this is a fad, but it came from somewhere, you know? Um, and it really helped me. Also, if you have sinus issues, you can find that it’s draining all of these like the act of swishing is working these muscles to help drain a lot of the mucus and sinuses, your sinuses and everything.

Alison Martin: What do you do now?

Carla Hall: Okay, so now when I get up, I will to myself I lay there and I think about my day. Gratitude is a big part of my day and just grateful for. For every little thing, for, you know, being able to wake up, smell, my sense of taste every time I eat something delicious. I’m so grateful for my sense of taste just and my sense of smell. And then I do a mantra, um, that I’ve been doing for years. And then I would like to say that I work out, but I think about working out. But I also heard that if you think about it, it’s just it’s better than nothing. So. So sometimes it’s a thought. So that’s the thought. And I love so, so, yeah. And then, you know, I get up, I have my oatmeal and things like that, and then I sort of start the day. What I love is that my, my days aren’t the same, so I don’t go to a regular job every day. And so it’s a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse because I think I work well with routine. I’m very good with routines and, you know, so when I don’t have a regular schedule, it’s up to me to sort of force myself into the things that I need to do because I’m a big procrastinator. But then I found out that I procrastinate because either I’m doing something that I’m not good at doing or I don’t want to do it. And so and then I took a test about that. I love like these psychological tests, the Kolbe Test. Have you heard of it?

Alison Martin: Yes. Yes.

Carla Hall: Oh, my God. That changed my life.

Alison Martin: I haven’t done it, but my friend just did it.

Carla Hall: Okay Kolbe and Enneagram completely changed my life. I am an armchair psychologist. Come and talk to me. I’m the auntie. I will tell you any and everything that I know nothing about. But I will be very convincing because I’m so passionate about it.

Alison Martin: I’m going to I’m going to do it.

Carla Hall: Because I’ve found out that through Kolbe, there are lots of other things that one, I’m not good with the blank page, so I need to react to something. So if somebody wanted me to write something, I will procrastinate because it’s just the blank page, right? Um, but if I tell somebody, Hey, you want me to write a speech, I need you to give me notes first and then I can write it right? Um, also, I’m a quick start. If you give me an idea, I think about, I’m like, Yeah, I want to do that. My husband is the exact opposite. If I am a one on quick start, he’s a nine. And so what I realized he would say, I would say, hey, let’s, let’s do blah, blah, blah. I don’t know. Let’s, let’s go out and and and trim the trees. He’s like, I don’t know. Let’s think about it. Let’s and then, you know, then it’s gone – The energy of trimming the trees is gone. And he didn’t want to do it. And now I don’t have time to do it. But I realized that we we have a meeting of the minds and now I don’t allow him to talk me out of it in the moment because he’s always going to talk me out of it because he overthinks things. But I’m like, Oh, I want to do it now. And I, I just tell myself to do it. And just knowing that about myself. So I’m not frustrated with him in talking me out, but that is how he is, you know what I mean? And so and just learning about ourselves. We’ve been married for 17 years and there are some things that I’m learning. I’m like, Oh, that is so cool. Like discovering these little bits of each other throughout our marriage because I learned something about myself, and then I learn a little more about him. And so we aren’t the same people who got married 17 years ago, but we allow each other to grow and to discover ourselves and each other.

Jean Trebek: That’s so beautiful that that you recognize that with your husband. And we mean you. How long are you and Dan married?

Alison Martin: 30 years now. And it’s it’s that same thing where we’re like opposites and the same it’s a very good mix.

Jean Trebek: Alex and I were 30 years and total opposites but yeah I think you just sort of honor and respect that. And you’re so new to each other all the time that you’re like… oh!

Carla Hall: Exactly. It’s, it’s exciting. I mean, there are times where you’re like, insert eyeroll, but if, if somebody says to me that their their relationship is is always great and always I’m like, somebody’s not being honest.

Jean Trebek: Yeah, I agree.

Carla Hall: Somebody is not telling the truth and somebody is not satisfied because it is not possible. I truly believe that relationships are the way that the universe gets us to grow the most. And so because we are tied to this person whom we love and we can’t get out easily because they’re going to reflect the things that we need to, they’re like the, the messenger of our lessons. And, so I’m like, Oh, here comes another lesson. Yeah.

Alison Martin: Yes.

Carla Hall: One time he said to me, he goes, I forgot what he was saying. He said, You’re always doing blah, blah, blah. And he was right. And I said to him, So? He goes, What?

Jean Trebek: This friend of mine would say, Oh, here’s another AFGO, which meant another fine growth opportunity. Or he would say, Fucking growth opportunity. Exactly right.

Alison Martin: Do you cook at home?

Carla Hall: I do. Matthew cooks the most. He cooks them. I used to tell people I cook at the office. Why should I cook at home? Right? Um, Matthew cooks the cooks the most at home. But ever since it’s probably the last four years, I started cooking more just because I was on kind of a high protein because I was working out. And so I needed to control what I was eating. And also I eat out so much on the road that I just when I get home, I just want something plain and simple without a lot of stuff, you know? Right. Um, but yeah, but I love food. But he cooks the most at home.

Alison Martin: That’s so interesting. Yeah. Yeah. This has been so wonderful.

Carla Hall: Yeah.

Jean Trebek: It’s such a treat to meet you. I was really forward to it. You’re so full of wisdom and beauty inside and out.

Alison Martin: I would just like to come over.

Carla Hall: Oh. Do you want to make biscuits? That’s my thing.

Alison Martin: You’re so much fun.

Jean Trebek: Yeah, you’re just awesome. Thank you.

Carla Hall: Yeah. Thank you all. I thank you for your interest. Thank you for inviting me. And we have to make biscuits sometimes.

Alison Martin: I would love that. Are you kidding? Yes. And we’ll let you know when this comes out and have the most wonderful summer.

Carla Hall: Thank you so much. Same to you all. Thanks. Bye bye. Bye.

Jean Trebek: Talk to her all day.

Alison Martin: I know. I want to go over and visit her right now.

Jean Trebek: I think we need to be bring her into our best friend group.

Alison Martin: I know. And I love that. I want to go to that party with all those people she mentioned turning 60.

Jean Trebek: Yeah, well, I’ll be there. I know.

Alison Martin: I know. I’m way past that point. I just thought that her effervescence. She was interested in us and interested. Interesting. I just. I want to emulate that. I want to be curious about people. I want to be positive about what I’m doing, and I want to be present, which is what I really like, that she just was like, you know, some days I’m tired and I get to show up tired.

Jean Trebek: Right. You know, I think she just makes being a human being really wonderful, like all parts of it. Yeah. I left that interview the rest of the afternoon and I felt really on a high.

Alison Martin: Yeah, me too. Me, too. So thank you so much, Carla. And thank you guys for listening. It’s just it’s been such a pleasure. And we can’t wait to introduce you and talk with more people.

Jean Trebek: Absolutely. Take care.

Alison Martin: Have a great day.