Hello APGD
Hello APGD is a neighborhood podcast that highlights the people who make the Audubon Park Garden District one of the most celebrated destination neighborhoods in Central Florida. We chat with business owners, community leaders, volunteers, long-time residents, artists, and other influential locals; documenting the untold stories of this magical place just minutes away from Downtown Orlando.
Hello APGD
Lily Heaton - Freelance Creative, Amsterdam Resident, Audubon Park Regular, and Dear Friend
Meet Lily—Senior Copywriter and Cultural Consultant by trade, world traveler and adventure seeker by nature. We discuss Lily’s Central Florida upbringing and subsequent move to Amsterdam; how those things have shaped her life, along with the impact of traveling home fairly regularly (and always making time to visit friends in Audubon Park.)
https://msha.ke/lilywanderlust
Intro: 0:13
Hi friends, thank you for joining us for another episode of Hello APGD, a neighborhood podcast about the Audubon Park Garden District in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Michael Lothrop, and my guest today is Lily Heaton, freelance senior copywriter, cultural consultant, creative director and dear friend who splits time between Amsterdam and Orlando. Be sure to follow the Instagram accounts LilyWonderLust and LilyHeaton.com to read her travel blog and see samples of her work. If you'd like to be a guest on the show or if you'd like to be a sponsor, please feel free to message me on Instagram at helloapgdpod. Thank you for listening. Support for this episode comes from Neighbor Bread, a small batch sourdough home bakery made with excellence and integrity in Audubon Park. Visit NeighborBreadOrlando.com and sign up for the newsletter to get the latest on order, scheduling and availability, With local delivery or pickup. It's as simple as that no social media, just bread. This episode is also brought to you by Red Panda Noodle. Made fresh daily, these wheat-based Chinese style noodles are pulled, sliced and boiled to order. Find your favorite dish by following them on Facebook and Instagram at RedPandaNoodle plus. Check out their website at redpandanoodle.com for the latest on food truck pop-up dates and other news.
Michael:
And with me today is Lily Heaton, freelance senior copywriter, cultural consultant and creative director, who now lives in the Netherlands. Lily, welcome.
Lily: 1:51
Thank you, hello, hello.
Michael: 1:54
It is so good to have you on the podcast we were talking about. You know just the different connections that you have to Audubon Park. Your mom, nancy, lives still in Longwood which is where you grew up, like that area, and so she's also a vendor at Grandma Party the past few years, which is a very important event to Audubon Park, and you travel here pretty frequently and always are visiting Audubon Park. So I feel like you have a unique perspective as a person who grew up here, who has moved overseas and you're still returning on a regular basis to see kind of the changes and what hasn't changed in that sort of thing. So thank you for taking the time.
Lily: 2:42
Thank you for having me. When I saw your text today, I was like hell, yeah, I'll be on a podcast. I think it's super special that you invited me. So thank you so much. And yeah, like I was just mentioning earlier that I guess I'm sort of like a temporary honorary resident of Audubon Park.
Michael: 3:03
People know you here too, and you were saying that like they recognize you from social media posts and things like that. Like you are like you're at Audubon Park staple even though most of the year you're abroad, right?
Lily: 3:16
That's true. I mean, it's all thanks to you. It's the tips of photos. Somehow I get my face in all these pictures.
Michael: 3:22
Somehow I know we're always hanging out when you're here. So yeah, that is. I can see the connection there for sure. Yeah yeah, Well, you're one of our favorite people and I just yeah, I'm just excited for you to get to share your story on here.
Lily: 3:39
Yeah, so, like you mentioned, I grew up here and after I graduated from Rawlins, which is Audubon Park adjacent, let's say.
Michael: 3:48
Oh yeah, winter Park, winter Park, it's just a couple of miles from here.
Lily: 3:52
So I graduated from Rawlins, I had studied cultural anthropology and you know I grew up traveling so much with my mom I should definitely preface that I grew up traveling all over the world with my mom, who's a flight attendant, you know. We all know and love Nancy, yeah, and yeah, I just always grew up very curious and exploring the world and I'm very fortunate to have these opportunities to travel with my mom and a lot of my family, yeah, doesn't live in America or had temporary stints of not living in America. So I just kind of always saw that as an option and I never honestly had a plan per se. But after I had finished up my bachelor's degree it was 2008 when I graduated so the economy was tanked, the recession was full force and it's like, okay, well, I worked my ass off to be a nerd and study and get scholarships and put myself through college in a fancy liberal arts college and like now, what the hell am I going to do? So I worked at the Orlando Regional History Center for a year after I graduated and very cool place, but not for me, and I think that just kind of made me feel like, yeah, I'm ready for something more. And the way the job search situation was back then. I was like what do I have to lose, even if I go for six months, like let's just figure out a way to go do it? And I remember it was 2009 when I officially like moved over there the first time, and I remember the day that I just sort of made the decision it was like super haphazard and I was looking at different visas and stuff so I actually went over there to be an au pair, which, if you know me, it's hilarious. Like I love kids, I don't want kids, but I have so good with that. Yeah, I have like a Mary Poppins vibe, naturally, yeah. So I just sort of was like hey guys, I'm going to move to Amsterdam in like I don't know two months. I'm going to find like a family and be an au pair and that's as far as I've planned it Fast forward. I mean, yeah, that was 2009. And now it's like just wrapped up like 14 years since I first moved there, which is completely mind blowing. Like I don't know how I did it. It's been a roller coaster, it's been a real adventure and it's also been so cool that I have this amazing group of friends back home that, like always, welcomes me with open arms, whether I'm on a high or a low, coming home to visit. And yeah, I just it's. I'm so fortunate that I've been able to maintain these relationships while sort of off on this other wild adventure. What, like five 6,000 miles away? I mean, amsterdam is a crazy place. It's a really fun place. It's incredibly different. I feel like I've lived probably five or six different lives while I've been there. I'm not an au pair anymore, I'm a freelance creative and I've been freelancing now since gosh 2016.
Michael: 7:13
It's so fascinating to me when somebody is that bold. I mean you had, as you said, all the foundation of travel in your life. So, your sense of adventure and sense of exploration was always alive and kicking. That's always been a thing that you enjoy doing, and you've been able to travel to other hubs relatively easily because you're not traveling from the US every time. So you've seen a lot of Europe now, and other continents as well.
Lily: 7:46
Yeah, for sure, my upbringing was absolutely like a part of the inspiration and, yeah, having family that's not American and having American family that also has lived abroad, it just I never felt like it was too crazy. It was a crazy idea, for sure, and I think then, you know, it was like 23 then, so there was still like a little bit of naivete, maybe that I was just like I don't know, what do I have to lose? I mean, if anyone listening remembers the economy in 2009, it was crazy. So it's like, okay, well, I just I'll just roll with the punches and see. And I'm very, very fortunate that you know, I had a mom that traveled. I saw her all the time. She would come over to visit on her layovers and I had like this really strong foundation home base that I just kind of always had it in my back pocket that well, if Amsterdam doesn't work out, I can come home to Orlando and figure it out from there. And I think that's always sort of been my saving grace yeah absolutely. That I'm like well, if I don't figure it out, I can just come back home and take a break. And there's been a couple times over the last 14 years that I definitely did. You know, visas and resetting parts of life and changing the ebb and flow of like your 20s into your 30s and figuring out your career Like there's definitely some good chunks of time that I needed to come back. You know, waiting for paperwork and stuff like that, and I was just so lucky that I had like this little cradle here in Orlando where I was able to maintain and nurture these incredible friendships. And we've all sort of like well, we've all grown up over the last 14, 15 years, right, but it's like somehow I stayed in the mix. I stayed growing with Orlando in a way, but on the other hand, I also like grew up with Amsterdam and Amsterdam itself has changed so much over the years. It's really wild, yeah. So I just I feel incredibly grateful and I feel so lucky that every time I come home, I'm almost like thrown into this weird emotional vortex of like why did I leave? I have the best friends here and like I have such a stable foundation here, but then it's like I know that there's more for me out there and I want to go see this through or I want to try that. You know, after the au pair gig then I stayed and that's kind of how I got into writing. I got a job as an intern at Time Out Amsterdam, actually while I was au pair. So I was writing, starting to write travel and entertainment, cultural articles, and that was sort of my first bylines in like a bigger publication. And then from there I was just like, oh, I wonder if I could do this, I wonder if I could do that, and for sure I won't sugarcoat it it wasn't easy. There's been a lot of tears, a lot of heartache, but a lot of laughs and a lot of cool people and a lot of adventures along the way and I sort of just I think I got into Amsterdam in a point where the city was just starting to take off in a bigger way for, like internationals and I just got lucky that I was a great writer and a great networker and hard worker and I just forged my way. Now I think the market, especially for English writers or creatives, is way more saturated. Amsterdam has grown immensely in the last decade. I think I just got really lucky in a way. The economy tanked but then it had other opportunities for me and looking back it definitely sounds crazy that I just like moved to Amsterdam.
Michael: 11:39
I didn't know anyone to be Mary Poppins, it's a very brave thing that you did Kind of crazy yeah. And I feel like mid-20s and you were kind of pre-mid-20s it's just such a transformative time in one's life in so many ways, because typically that's when you're finished with college, you're learning what it is to become an adult, you're learning how to have a career and thinking about kind of the next chapters of your life without school is like prime directive. And then, once you're done, it's sort of like okay, well, now I need to find happiness and also maintain a career. Right, it's like what? How do those things, work out together Right.
Lily: 12:31
Yeah, how do they work out Trial and error?
Michael: 12:35
I think and it's never the same answer twice either. You know, I think as we grow, we we find the things that make us happy, but we can't always count on those things either being there in the same way. It's like when it's when the city changes, the way that Amsterdam is changing, and I hear that of a lot of big cities or just like kind of the cool places are just different now and it's it seems to all be happening at the same time. This is just such a curious time in human history and I think you know, with your background in anthropology, like you know, the study of civilization and culture right, and that what drew you to that study, that field of study?
Lily: 13:16
I think again, you know, being like a mixed race person, having family that looks different and sounds different and has different traditions, like it just always maybe made me more naturally curious. And then again like traveling with my mom everywhere and my grandma, like just I was sort of raised to be this little backpacker. Yeah, worldly yeah worldly and I mean, I remember being like a little kid and I would be talking about, you know, seeing some ancient forum in Greece or something you know, like seeing parts of human history and studying humanities and and culture, and I just think it's fascinating. I think the human experience is really fascinating. I think that's also something that drives me as a person. I'm the kind of person that is just like ooh, I'm interested, I want to experience this, and sometimes it's a blast, and sometimes I'm like oopsies, let me backtrack, but I'll still have a cool story at the end. I'll find a way to land on my feet and perhaps that natural energy that I have, this like propensity to figure shit out and land on my feet Again not trying to make it sound easy, but somehow it works for me. And, like you said, that, that sort of moldable time of your early 20s, you're sort of like adulting or figuring out how to be an adult. I had no blueprint. I was literally like in this weird world of international people in another city that's not really our own but we're making it our own and there's so much turnover in people I was meeting. One thing that's been really hard about the situation I would say is like never having consistency, whether that's like where I lived or what I did for work or who I hung out with. Again, so many cool experiences and cool people that I crossed paths with over the time, but so much change. I sort of like threw myself into this whirlpool of change and I didn't really realize how exhausting that would be. Like I'm always up for the adventure, but I'm gonna give you a break sometimes, and so again I think like having my home in Orlando, my mom here, my friends here, like y'all, have been the consistent thing that I just know I can always depend on and I'm just so lucky Like I really get emotional every once in a while on a visit home, yeah, even this morning. You know, transparency, like life is hard, adulting is hard, your mid 30s is hard, there's challenges, and I was really upset about some stuff that I'm going through with landlord stuff and client stuff and it's just like, ah, sometimes it all comes to a head at the same moment and I'm like I literally cried to my mom this morning like did I make a huge mistake? Like did I purposely make my life more complicated because I was curious about an adventure? Like, honestly, I was really like what have I done? And thank goodness my mom gets it, shout out to Nancy. But she was like whoa, whoa, whoa. You're focused on some stuff that's upsetting you right now. But like in the bigger picture, like look what all you've done. You forged your own path. You did it by yourself in another place, with another language, another culture. Like you hit some big road bumps and you navigated through those. You did a master's degree. Yeah, I went to grad school at the University of Amsterdam. I forgot to mention that in my timeline, but she was like yeah, you did a master's degree over there. That's amazing and she was really hyping me up. And then, yeah, I started freelancing and built a creative cottage business, let's say is just me. But yeah, I mean, I've worked with clients around the globe and all different size brands and some really cool projects have come my way. So, yeah, I'm like, oh damn, I did do that. I did do that by myself somewhere else. Yeah. So I must be doing something right.
Michael: 17:38
Yeah, I definitely agree, and I think that immersing yourself in an entirely different culture, in a different place, learning the language, going back to school, it's like you never stopped being a student, really. You graduate from school and then you're like, okay, this is how I'm going to learn, just by being in this place and living and figuring it out, not knowing people there and being on this adventure, and it's such a bold move. It really is and like it's inspiring. You know, for those of us who do get kind of very stuck in our routines and I mean I love to travel I see all of the benefit and the growth that happens just from getting out of a place and coming back, like you know, and I encourage that for anybody who gets stuck in a rut and they're like, you know, I don't like Orlando anymore. Well, how often do you travel?
Lily: 18:39
Yeah, shake it up a little shake it up.
Michael: 18:41
It's a. This is a really wonderful place to live and a wonderful place to come home to, which is something that you have experienced many, many times, because, no matter what like, this will always be a home for sure.
Lily: 18:53
Yeah, I always have the garage couch at the low threats. Yeah, you do.
Michael: 18:58
Absolutely On holidays, on whenever you know this. Yeah, I would. I would love to hear more about, kind of, when you return here, what are some of the things that you see that are consistent, what are some of the things that have changed, and that sort of thing.
Lily: 19:13
Yeah, well, I think we're lucky. I guess generation of people that grew up in the Orlando area I always say it like you know a lot of people I knew in Orlando, all the cool people that stayed made a lot of cool stuff happen and I'm just really fortunate that a lot of them happen to be my friends, you know, through high school or college or after that. So Orlando has grown so much creatively and in the food scene and culturally like it's really a much, I think, a much cooler place than when we grew up. Yeah, I mean shout out to Stardust because they've been around forever and actually I was thinking about Audubon Park. On my drive here what's like my oldest memory, and I definitely remember moving from Chicago in the mid 90s to Orlando my mom was like what have I done? There's no culture here. My mom's like an old hippie. For anyone that doesn't know. And very worldly Very worldly and so yeah and she was just like in a culture shock and I remember she just we always went to Stardust like before. It was cool, I guess.
Speaker 3: 20:31
I mean it was always cool, but it wasn't always a hangout, right.
Michael: 20:34
Because it was just a video store at one time. Yeah it was a hip spot, exactly.
Lily: 20:37
And I remember being a kid we would go down and I would get, we would pick out some VHS tapes to watch in our VHS player and you know they had all those old recycled doors and the. Belgro VHS tapes.
Michael: 20:56
Which are now the tables in there, Right exactly.
Lily: 20:59
Yeah, and so I distinctively remember going down there with my mom. I'd get lost in like the maze of doors and find some really weird, weird, like I don't know, cult, classic type of movies or art house movies and my mom just loved that place so we would hang out there. She would get like an Orlando weekly and a cup of tea and I'd like read my I don't know American Girl books or something that's awesome, and we'd get our videos back when people rented videos. Wow.
Michael: 21:34
It was quite some time ago.
Lily: 21:35
That was quite some time, that's like 30 years ago, I think. Right, it must be. I mean, I'm really dating myself on this podcast.
Michael: 21:44
I mean, we still hang on to our youthful spirit though, which is important, you know I think we really do. Yeah, we're lucky. I think it's a choice I think it takes, I don't know. I mean it's being people who do not have kids. I think it's probably a little bit easier too, because we're not responsible for other humans, so we can kind of be, we can keep that child in us alive a little bit more. Perhaps I don't know, because this is all I know of an existence, but yeah, I mean, I think that, and even our friends who do have kids I think a lot of them still have hung on to their youthfulness as well- yeah, our group of friends is also.
Lily: 22:28
They're just incredible. I will say all of all the friends that I've brought back from Amsterdam, that I've brought back to Orlando over the years. Everybody is like, what is this? Like your friend group, like this is not normal, this is like a movie. I'm like, yeah, like I've known them since high school, oh, I've known them since college and they're married to them and their best friends with them and they both had kids at the same time. It's like we have this really cool group, close knit group of friends, especially, I mean, before everyone got married as well. It was really like a really cool girl gang. You know, that's kind of grown into this woman gang, mom gang, slash, auntie gang. But, it's really, I guess, not normal, like even my partner was telling me the other day she's like this is not. Most people don't have this. Most people have like one or two friends from high school or one or two friends from their hometown and you have like a group of 20 people that all hang out together, that are in like a group, chat together, and you literally just have to like text one person or show up one place and all of a sudden, like everyone out of the woodwork knows you Totally, totally weird, but. I like that part of my life, for sure.
Michael: 23:49
Yeah, it's, it's very special and and I think that we all prioritize that like our, our friend family, like really is our family. For sure. And it does kind of take that a little bit of effort and a little bit of time, but it's what we want to be doing too. And I think, you know, for some people it's not necessarily a priority or it's not what they want to be doing. They have their routines and their responsibilities and, you know, the kids are basically who they hang out with and that's totally fine, that's totally a choice, but it's just a different choice, you know.
Lily: 24:27
Yeah, and when you've had friendships that span for decades, you grow together doesn't mean you're always on the same parallel path or you know the same trajectory. Like things grow and shift and we're all shaped by our experiences and in different ways. But it's really cool to have people that you've known for so long. Like I've watched everyone in our group grow and change, and you guys have definitely watched me grow and change and just all of those things of life that unfold. You know Whether that's building your career or going to school, or getting married, getting divorced, having kids. You know just the whole broad spectrum of, like we said, the human experience. It's just really cool to have people that. It's like I knew Tipso before he was the host of this podcast long before, right Even before I met Gabby, we met each other. Actually, that is a great story and I think that's full circle. We should tell it. So, okay, where do we even begin? I think, how did I even have this like premonition? So okay, we're friends. For what? 15 years longer, maybe, but, I think we've been pretty close. The last like 15 years, let's say, oh, yeah, but probably 20 years ago, something like that I was around 2021, because I was in college down the street at Rollins and another hometown friend was back in town from FSU and she's like yeah, let's go to this party. There's a house party. In my Rollins days there were tons of house parties in Audubon Park, so put that on the memory list as well. This neighborhood was full of cool students and indie bands that could afford a winter park.
Michael: 26:26
The early adopters of Audubon Park, which I'm included in, that.
Lily: 26:30
Yeah, and now it's like wait, it's like all two parents and two kids, or you guys, two parents and a cute doggy. I miss you. Anyway, okay, I'm getting off track, but yeah. So my friend was like, yeah, this cool band is playing from. I'm really 99% sure it was Look Mexico.
Michael: 26:49
It was.
Lily: 26:50
Yeah, okay, so.
Michael: 26:51
Who's also from Tallahassee?
Lily: 26:53
Yeah, or at the time where my friend Abby was going to FSU. So she's like, yeah, let's go this house party, Okay, cool. So we roll up to this house party. Very cool party, great music, great band, and yeah, the night went on. We had a great time. I made some new friends, had some good laughs, and then life went on and then fast forward. Probably another like five years later or something. I came over to your house one day and I was like, huh, I know this place. What is this feeling that I have here? Like I have been here before and it didn't even click and I have, mean, I've been to your house 100 times now. And then one day we were just sitting. I think we must've been sitting in the porch, because I have this memory of sitting in the porch talking to people. I don't know why. That's like a specific memory. Was the band playing out there?
Michael: 27:52
No. So I wanna say, actually they played at Austin's Coffee, and then we all came here after it was an after party.
Lily: 27:58
Oh yeah, austin's, that was a great spot. It is a great spot. It's still around right.
Michael: 28:03
It is yeah yeah.
Lily: 28:04
Okay, so they played it. So that's what it was. Hey, listen house parties get hazy. Yeah, okay, so it was like an after party, an after show party.
Michael: 28:13
Cause I was friends with the band and they stayed here that night. So we're like, well, let's just yeah, you've got like a group of friends, let's just go have a drink at my house, like we'll just go hang out. So this became the venue for the after party.
Lily: 28:28
To get an FSU rager?
Michael: 28:29
Yeah, a little like pop up FSU rager. And it was super fun and it's so funny because, like it was, I don't know, maybe a group of like 20 people or so, but it was. We did not remember each other until you came to the house and then you remembered the house and it's like oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did meet before. I was like I have this feeling.
Lily: 28:53
What is this? And it really took me a while and then one day it just dawned on me and I started like interrogating you about parties you've had in the past and I'm like I know I've been here. Maybe it was during a fancy, one of the many illustrious nights of fancy party. Perhaps I was like back in the same mind space.
Speaker 3: 29:14
And I had like a deja vu. This is what the party here looks like.
Lily: 29:18
Yeah like I feel like that could have definitely been the inspiration that like reconnected my neurons and made me remember, but I just love that story about our friendship. I think it's so cute. I mean, you're like a big brother to me, like we're totally family, and I think back then I was like you know, early 20s and I was like, oh cool, I'm like go to this party like the band, and there's cool people there. I don't know anybody, but I'll just go see what's up. That's like the story of my life.
Michael: 29:50
It was such a fun night too. Yeah, I love that you got to be there for that. That that was like that's part of our origin story. Yeah, for sure Of being friends.
Lily: 30:00
How special, super cool.
Michael: 30:02
Yeah, and not even knowing it too. It's like, yeah, my memory can be spotty about certain things and I feel bad when I don't remember like meeting people Cause it. I mean, it happens frequently too.
Lily: 30:15
You meet a lot of people. I do, I do.
Michael: 30:18
I'd like to lean on that as an excuse, but there's something with my brain and where I store things and then if I'm able to retrieve them or not, or like what's required for me to like really remember somebody, or somebody's face, somebody's name, even after having like a long conversation, and I, you know I feel bad when that happens, but I think I'm not alone in that. So obviously, some of us don't always remember our first meeting, and I didn't remember my first meeting of Gabby too, until she reminded me and. I was like, okay, well, we're married now, so it seems forgivable, obviously. And I do remember now meeting Gabby for the first time, some details of the conversation, but it took some prompting because it's just my brain, you know.
Lily: 31:13
Yeah, I, yeah, I have creative memory too.
Michael: 31:17
I like make stuff up. I'm like, oh yeah, you're wearing like a red flannel shirt right, and she's like no, it was June. I was definitely not.
Lily: 31:28
Okay. It's more like the seed of friendship is planted and you know it takes a minute to grow. Maybe that's part of what it is.
Michael: 31:37
I had a friend who is a therapist and she told me that you're a person who's very present in the moment. So when you're taken outside of that moment, like in a future time, it may be hard to recall it because like it's just happening and it's immediate thing. So I think that that can also be my excuse or my reason.
Lily: 32:01
Will allow it.
Michael: 32:02
I know Having to have an excuse. I wish I could just get better at it, but I haven't figured out what that takes.
Lily: 32:08
Yeah, I mean, the universe really does work in mysterious ways like not to get too woo-woo here, but I don't know. I feel like there's just people have an energy, and when your energies are, you know, synchronized or complementary to each other, you just always kind of find your way back to each other, and that's just something I feel like. That's kind of a sign how you know like these are the right people in my life, like if you keep coming back to each other and finding each other or running into each other at similar events and stuff like that. So some things are just meant to be and that's our friendship.
Michael: 32:50
Yeah, yeah, you don't have to force it, it just it will find its way. Right, you put yourself out there and, yeah, I fully agree with that. I think that we find our people. We find like people whose vibrations kind of match up and even though I mean, it's like our personalities are very different, but we always like meet in the middle, like we're always like hanging out with you is so great. We went and took photos the other day and hung out all day and it was, it was just so wonderful.
Lily: 33:20
That was awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Hanging out with you is very easy. It's a great friendship. I think it's like with you. Yeah, and also with you.
Michael: 33:33
Yeah, and also with Misty sometimes, and also with.
Lily: 33:35
Misty sometimes, no always always always with. Misty oh, she's perking up now, but yeah, I that was really cool, actually sort of sidetracked conversation, but going to green springs. I loved that I discovered that place and then brought you into it, and like it was a new discovery for me as well. I only discovered that spring like two years ago I think when I came home in the pandemic it's like less than 40 minutes from Ottawa Park.
Michael: 34:08
It's so close.
Lily: 34:09
Green springs is a gorgeous natural spring. It's a sulfuric spring.
Michael: 34:15
So, that's why it's green, and it looks like something from a movie.
Lily: 34:20
It looks like a movie, it's like from the jungle book, and I don't know how we grew up here as nature nerds and didn't know about it. Yeah. I feel like knowing your dad and the stuff he's into. Like you guys were probably going on a lot of springs and nature outings as well.
Michael: 34:39
Not as much as you would think. I mean, I remember going to the wetlands like early on, you know, and it's in its inception, before it became like kind of a visitor's attraction just because of his involvement with it, and I mean I had an appreciation for it. We grew up in Wakaiva, so you have you know, Wakaiva Springs is like one of the best in the area, yeah, and so venturing out was like blue springs was always kind of the one to go to and you see manatees there.
Lily: 35:11
But another favorite.
Michael: 35:12
Another favorite. I mean, it's magical, you just went there as well.
Lily: 35:16
I did one week ago.
Michael: 35:18
Yeah, yeah, how many manatees were there?
Lily: 35:20
that day, I think it was 664 or something like that.
Michael: 35:28
Yeah, I was hoping you would say 666. I was hoping that too.
Lily: 35:32
Actually, I was like are you sure you didn't forget? One or two, yeah, and I was like pretty hungover after our karaoke night. Oh yeah.
Michael: 35:40
Those little cocktails. Yeah At, kaya At.
Lily: 35:43
Kaya, which was a really fun night, and I got to get to know a couple other gals, local gals, and that was fun. And the morning my mom was like yeah, let's go, let's go to blue springs and I was like what, what I thought? I thought we last night was the adventure. But, off. we went and I thought, okay, if there's a line, then we can just turn around and go to green springs instead. So if you live in the central Florida area or you're visiting and you love nature stuff like we do, then you've got to check out green springs and go say hi to the little baby alligator that may or may not be a different alligator year to year.
Michael: 36:28
There was legend that they swap out the alligator so it stays about the same size. So as they grow up maybe there's like a smaller one that they put in there. I like the story.
Lily: 36:39
I like the story. I personally I find it realistic because when I visited about it was either a year or two years ago the gator was about the same size and when we were driving up together and I was telling you about the springs, I was sort of anticipating like, yeah, we're going to see a big old gator. And then we got there and I wasn't disappointed, but I was like look at this guy. Okay, hey, buddy. Yeah, little one, a little four footer.
Michael: 37:14
He was adorable.
Lily: 37:15
And that gator was loving life. He or she was just really enjoying a placid little float and loved posing for our cameras.
Michael: 37:28
So much posing.
Lily: 37:29
Really was. We got very lucky with that one and it wasn't as busy that day. So, and there's a great nature trail, there's wild oranges, and also close by to green springs is another spot called Gemini Springs. It's, you know, I don't know somehow in the same system, and I went there like a the week prior with Shelly and we we checked that out, but so it's called Gemini Springs, right? So you'd think that there's two springs and we enjoyed a nature walk. It was quite busy, I think it was like a Saturday and so we were walking all around and and we found the one spring. Finally and I was chatting with some other people, yeah, we're talking about springs and manatees and tubing at at Rock Springs another great option in the area. But I, she's like yeah, we come to Gemini Springs all the time and I'm like, yeah, but okay, where's the other spring? We can't find it. Like I'm looking all over, she's like no, I don't think there's two. I'm like no, there have to be two, like it's called Gemini Springs, like Gemini twins, like there's two. Why would they? Somebody named it this for a reason. It wasn't just like. Old Florida man made it up Like yeah. So I was like, all right, you're not a helpful source of information, I'll just keep looking. And then I thought like Shelly, there's another bridge, let's go cross over that bridge. And lo and behold, there was a second spring. So later that same couple walked back over the bridge with us and I was like hey, did y'all see there's the second spring? And she was mind blown. I've literally never seen that before.
Michael: 39:19
Wow, that's so funny.
Lily: 39:21
Yeah, I'm just out here helping people get to know nature.
Michael: 39:24
Yeah, yeah, there's got to be a twin. If it's Gemini, right, there's no other way. No, no other way, yeah.
Lily: 39:31
So yeah, gemini Springs was really cool. I mean, that's definitely. I feel like when I do come home those are like the two things I do, like hang out in the springs and go on nature walks Well, that's like a combined experience and then hang out in Audemars Park. Yeah. Two of my favorite things to do in central Florida, and that's usually with you.
Michael: 39:51
I know I love it. It's two of my favorite things to do when you're in town, especially like I don't do enough nature things. So I love that you're always down. Yeah, I mean it's. I don't know why that is. I think that it's just making a plan. It's just not always the first thing that we think of and you're like really our most outdoorsy of friends, that like invites us along to those kinds of adventures. So maybe we need to be those friends for other people. I think that that's maybe what this is telling me.
Lily: 40:27
Yeah, I mean you know you've got all my hot tips now, but that's wild to me. You say that because when we're talking about you know living that I live abroad. One thing I definitely like probably over fantasized, is like, yeah, if I would live in Florida, I would be in the sun all day and I would be always on a nature adventure, and like that's what I would do, cause I mean, that is genuinely what I love to do. Yeah, nature photo walks is like, I think, a spiritual experience for me, to be honest, and I'm always really craving that in Amsterdam, especially because we barely have any sun and you just it's such a different landscape, such a different ecosystem. I don't want to call it boring, but it's very flat.
Michael: 41:19
And there's no spray yeah.
Lily: 41:21
Florida is like a magical wonderland, tropical wonderland that is being unfortunately like overfilled with cement, but Amsterdam special in its own way. You know they're both swamps, so that's kind of cool.
Michael: 41:39
But swamp sisters.
Lily: 41:41
Swamp sisters. Yeah, I just went from one hot swamp to a cold swamp basically. But yeah, in my down days I'm definitely like sitting there in the cold shivering with my cup of tea and I'm like why did I leave Florida? It's so sunny there and I could just be with the manatees all the time, and yeah. So let me encourage you, let this be a lesson to everyone listening to get outside. Don't take the sun for granted. Go bask in mother nature's magic it's. You won't regret it. Everybody needs to breathe some good tree air and it also helps us to just remember like we're all connected and everything we need is like already in nature and life is so special and like everything is connected. I sound like such a nerd right now, but I think it's so cool to learn about all these different ecosystems in Florida. I mean, central Florida is its own thing, southern Florida is its own thing right. Like it's. They're quite different. So yeah, go outside, be in nature. And even if you don't want to go, do it for me, because I promise I'm sitting in the cold fighting from the rain.
Michael: 43:01
Right when you're not, when you're not visiting here, yeah, and I'm glad that you are visiting here right now, because this is not a great time to be in Amsterdam.
Lily: 43:09
It's snowing over there, but you know when it's January, so that's expected. I will say like there's been a lot of clouds over here, but I do appreciate. I don't mind. The cold is the gray for me when you just have gray for like nine months of the year. I think I'm a sunshine person and literally and figuratively, I think so. I really need that and I'm just like a tropical spirit person. I need to. I love to be in the sun, so I think that's definitely one of the big challenges. It might seem like superficial to some people, but I promise you if you would live like in nine months of rain and cold, it will most likely change your energy. And I sometimes do feel like maybe I'm in Amsterdam is not like the right frequency for me. I feel like I need to go, maybe end up somewhere. No, I know that I will eventually end up somewhere. That's like a sunnier, happier frequency.
Michael: 44:16
Yeah, it served its purpose for a time. Right it's. It's a home for a time, but it doesn't have to be a forever home.
Lily: 44:24
Exactly. And you know, I never really set out for it to be a forever home, which is so weird. And sometimes I think the universe gives you a path and you don't really know how it's going to unfold, and then later in hindsight you're like oh okay, you know that didn't work out because I wasn't supposed to go that direction. So sometimes I I love Amsterdam and I love that I got to find myself there and grow up there and and and just really explore all of these different avenues of life that I definitely would never have experienced growing up in Orlando or I mean even a lot of places in America. There's just like, yeah, there's something very special. It's very scary but also very freeing to group, to live in a place where you're sort of like not supposed to be there in a way right, like I don't really belong here. I'm sort of like visiting, but now I'm here forever, like for a really long time it's. It's like really freeing. You know how, like when you, we both have to think back when you were single. For you it was a really long time ago. But when you go on different dates and you date different people, I feel like you kind of try on a slightly different version of yourself because you're kind of meshing with that other person. I feel like Amsterdam did that for me. Like I got to try on a little bit different version of myself and sort of compare and contrast, like who I was when I left and who I'm growing into, and like who I want to be. And I got to do that in a place where I didn't know anybody, I didn't have any roots, I didn't have anyone remembering like, oh, you were like this in middle school or whatever. So that is super liberating, right. But then it's also you're sort of feel like you're living in a free fall, constant free fall.
Michael: 46:23
Because you don't have that.
Lily: 46:24
You don't have any roots Emotional support system that. And no one really sees you grow Like. I mean, I have met so many awesome people in Amsterdam and I've built some really beautiful friendships, but I've also, like, had so much heartbreak because you bond with people and then they're gone in two years. You know, it's just, it's a very weird. I think that's just part of like. If you're an international person, that's not specific to Amsterdam, but if you live like an international life, you just you sort of have this like constant heartbreak. In a way. It's so beautiful because you're so, it's like the memories and and the different personalities and what I've learned and shared with other people, but then it's like, oh, now they're gone and that was like a moment in time. So, yeah, a lot of it. I think when I really lay it all out, it's like quite bittersweet, you know.
Michael: 47:23
Yeah, it's almost like growing up in a military family, from what I understand, to just having to kind of pull up stakes and then learn a new way of life and, you know, make new friends, just kind of find your place in an environment that's unfamiliar and, yeah, and then watching other people kind of do that, as you're in a place that was already unfamiliar, you know slowly becoming more familiar to you and Now maybe you're at a place where it's like so familiar that you need that new adventure and that new like exploration Perhaps too.
Lily: 48:04
Yeah, I think that's a great analogy. I mean, I think that must be a very similar experience and that makes a lot of sense. And yeah, I think, like different places and different people, they're right for you at the right chapter of life. Whether you know it in the moment or not. Yeah, but that's like the beauty of like writing our own stories and Figuring out what could this next chapter be. You know which path am I gonna take? I think I just did it to like an extreme. Maybe I maybe it should be a book, I don't know. Yeah. I think just going over all the wild stories and yeah that could be its own podcast on its own. Yeah. Yeah, I think, when I compare the two places, like they're so Different and my lives here are so different, and the thing that I find Really magical is when I get to blend the two, when I get to have my Florida friends come see me over there, or someone is Passing through you know, amsterdam's a big hub, so people will pass through for a couple days or even I've met up with people that I don't even like necessarily know. It's like oh, via, via, you gotta meet Lily or she'll give you some tips, right Like so I meet up with these different, like Floridians like wait what yeah? and that's, that's really, it's just really special. And then Florida is like, at least for me in this very constant, steady Social life, and perhaps some of that is because when I come home here it's usually like Winter break, everyone's off work and we're just going to see manatees and yeah, like well, before, in the before days, you know, getting ready for fancy party or stuff like that. Whereas Amsterdam life is like actually work and normal day-to-day stuff. But even my normal day today is so different. I mean I've never I've been like a young adult here, right, like I went to high school and did my bachelor's here, but I've not really been a full adult here, like I've never paid a water bill in Florida you know what I mean. Like I had to. I do all of those adulting things in Amsterdam. I mean literally like the apartment I live in now. I Moved over there in 2016. So it was like October I moved in and and it's my first you know bachelorette pad at the time and I had never had my own apartment. I had always, like, had roommates, of course. So I'd moved in in October, fast-forward. Now it's January. It's brutally cold. By the way, it's not like Florida, you just put extra sweater on right. And I got this like crazy email. I was co -working with a couple other freelance Gals and they happened to be Dutch, thankfully in the moment because I got this crazy email that was like they're like Lily, you never turned your gas on, like you don't have a gas contract. You're just like running off the grid, which I guess you're not supposed to do. And I had no idea. I mean this must sound so silly, but it was my first apartment fully on my own. I was like in another country. You know what I mean? I knew I was supposed to pay these bills but I didn't really know, like, where you're supposed to turn it on. It was like a pretty angry letter. You know I've been doing this for like three months. At that point and I was terrified. I was like what do I do? And thankfully there's some really cool Dutch people that I've befriended who have helped walk me through Like a lot of these little adulting moments. I mean that I really did feel kind of stupid In like in hindsight, but honestly I just had no idea. Right, like they give you I had to do all the contracts and they give you a key and I got the Wi-Fi turned on. I knew I needed a bill for that but like the water just goes on and the city send you a bill, I didn't know yeah. I had to sign up for like an electricity.
Michael: 52:25
I mean, that's a, that's a different concept, right? I mean, yeah, if it's on, it's on. And then I Wouldn't have thought about that either. There's a lot of places here where, if you're renting, the utilities are included, so yeah it doesn't even yeah, so Learning opportunities, many learning opportunities along the way.
Lily: 52:50
I can't believe that story. But yeah, I will say successfully. I've always paid my gas bill on time. So since that moment I put it on direct deposit and we're good to go. But yeah, that's like one of the things that I think also maybe is unique to my experience, because I really did just kind of freefall my International life, like a lot of people I would say most people that move abroad, whether it's temporarily or long term, like you're going for something, you're going for school or work or a partner, like you have a base and something is really guiding you there and you have probably a community of something. Look, someone looking out for you, right? Yeah if a job moves you there, that's really the golden ticket. People ask me all the time like I Want to move abroad, how do I do it? I'm like get a job to move you, yeah, and you'll cry half as much as I have. Only half yeah, but I don't know why I did it this way, because I didn't know there was another way. I didn't have an Auntie Lills to give me the tips the inside scoop of living abroad and I just kept like Free-falling and like seeing what stuck I guess, throwing ideas out and seeing what sticks, like I, I just honestly made it up and I'm just lucky to be, I guess, pretty smart and pretty groovy, somehow pull it together. And yeah, like I said, I mean really I have some very cool Local friends that for sure helped me sort stuff out and I have an amazing partner that knows the ropes. So there's still little things where I'm like oopsies, I didn't know. Um, but yeah, if you want to move abroad, see if you can get a job to pay For you to do it. That's my like, that's the golden ticket. If you want to be crazy and do it my way, yeah, just get one way flight and a visa for a part-time job.
Michael: 55:05
Sure, well, and obviously, as we talked about too, with your mom working for the airline industry, you got to fly like stand by and so you were able to make trips back kind of inexpensively and a lot easier than than other people might be able to. So that made it feel a little safer and a little bit you kept your sanity because you were able to come back and like regroup here when you needed to and that sort of thing yeah yeah, 100%.
Lily: 55:36
And I mean, for a long time, flying to Amsterdam was like my mom's job, literally, so I would see her like every Thursday, every other Thursday, and I'd just be like, hey, come along with me. Like, do you want to? I'm going to this party, do you want to come? Or oh, there's this cocktail event, or oh, there, let's go see a movie. Or just come over for dinner and I meet up with the other flight attendants, which is Such a cute, weird world that they have as well. But it's just incredibly special because my mom is like got to be a big part of my life over there, mm-hmm, and then she's also obviously a big part of my life over here. I think it's so cute that everybody knows my mom, and it's like hanging out with Nancy without me.
Michael: 56:27
Yeah, she often comes to the Monday night farmers market.
Lily: 56:31
Does. She's a big fan of the market and I told you she loves stardust.
Michael: 56:36
Yeah, she's an early adapter. That's so cool, yeah, yeah, that's a rare thing.
Lily: 56:41
Yeah, and so my mom thinks you guys are all really cool. My mom likes my friend. I think she's a pretty good. She's a pretty good gal to have around. Most of the time. I know you're listening, mom. But uh, no again, I think it just it. There's parts of my life that are so weird and unique. I mean we all have that right, but in this specific case, like for sure, my mom's career as a flight attendant like had a lot to do with this Experience, not just only like inspiring me through all these travel and cultural experiences, but the fact that she could come over and visit, and I find it actually a bit of a rude awakening Now that we're in. You know she retired in the pandemic if that was her time, and now it's very weird that I don't see my mom. I never honestly felt like I was that far away. I felt like I was. Yeah, I didn't. I never felt that far away, and the last couple of years I mean especially like when I was in lockdown alone In Amsterdam, I felt the distance, I felt it real hard.
Michael: 57:58
We were doing a lot of FaceTiming with you too, yeah really felt for your situation.
Lily: 58:05
I was just like I'm completely alone. Who wants to call me? I was on. I think I never logged that many hours on all of us and never logged that many hours on our phones, right Um.
Michael: 58:17
And it's not the same as like being in a room with somebody. I mean it's, it's nice, but it's it's, it's just not the same. Yeah, you don't get the same thing from it.
Lily: 58:26
Yeah, exactly, and I mean there must be other people who everybody felt alone and weirdly distanced back then and in my experience it was just like whoa wait, this is what it's like to actually not see anyone like my mom or anyone that's like familiar for this long.
Michael: 58:44
Yeah, and how long is it gonna be? And like are we gonna be able to be in the same room with people again. Like it was a lot to go through that was.
Lily: 58:53
It's so wild. I mean I guess everyone throughout humanity is like living through history, but it's very wild to be conscious that we're living through so many historical events. I mean without like going down a political rabbit hole now, but just watching what's unfolding in the world, what we've lived through in our life so far. I'm like whoa.
Michael: 59:17
Yeah, I know Shelly and I were just talking about Y2K the other day. It's like how, like kids, just like she was talking to some I don't know young adults, and how they had no concept of like why, why did that matter? Like, why were you worried about it? It's like, no, we were all really worried about it. Like I went and bought flashlights and batteries and we're like what's the world gonna be like when there's no more?
Lily: 59:46
electricity.
Michael: 59:49
When traffic lights start shooting lasers at us and stuff like that. Yeah, I mean it. The uncertainty. And then, like the fact that you know young people had to have to be told, like what 9-11 is.
Lily: 1:00:03
Oh, that's wild.
Michael: 1:00:04
Yeah, I mean just the concept of that of like, oh, you don't, just like you didn't live through that, so you don't know. Well, here's what happened. It changed everything and it was horrific in every aspect. And like you go to Manhattan now and you Wouldn't necessarily know, I mean there's the memorial, which is breathtaking and and just you can't even picture it, like if you didn't live through it. And Uh, I mean, even though many of us were not in New York City, we witnessed it on TV and we felt it and we knew people that were there and things like that. And it's pretty profound historic events and those are just like American things, like the things that are happening in the world. It's like Don't there's just there's a lot,
Lily: 1:01:01
But yeah, humans are, I will say that humans are incredibly resilient and adaptable and we have we're really stuck in a corner. We have this way, potentially, of finding our way out and I think, yeah, it's weird, like they say, like the only constant is change and you know more on the level of talking about comparing Amsterdam and Audubon Park and stuff. It's like we're watching these cities grow in shape and I come back, you know, once or twice a year and always something is different. And then in Amsterdam I'll go into a different neighborhood and I'm like, oh, this didn't used to be there, that used to be something else. In a way. It sounds like sort of silly to mention, but we're all experiencing that, like, people are way more adaptable than we even give ourselves credit for and. I think that's Obviously. It's a part of your personality, right, your, your flexibility, but we're all more capable to rise to the occasions when we're, when we're kind of forced to, and I think, like that's something I've really learned over the years. Like yeah, I'm, like, wow, I'm. I'm really adaptable, I can figure that out, have a whole different concept of like what scares me or what challenges me, and it's not for everyone. I have plenty of friends back here that are like no, I'm cool, I like it here, I don't need to experience all of this. Like vigorous Adventure and change, that's totally fine. I would go crazy. I would go crazy. I think that's just part of my personality. I'm curious and I just want to see what else is out there.
Michael: 1:02:55
Yeah, that's the wanderlust, that's the wanderlust.
Lily: 1:03:02
Yes, that's right. Exactly. But yeah, so I don't know if you're listening and you're like doubting a change in your life, like maybe this is a sign to step into it, and you always do find like a parachute when you're free falling. You always do like life. Like I said, it could be a whole other podcast episode just crazy stuff that I encountered, unexpected things and I had no clue how to figure it out and like, yeah, sometimes you just have to express the frustration or the fear or the sadness, whatever, like rainbow of emotions. You need to get through that moment and then be like, okay, this is plan a, plan B, plan C. Like, yeah, figure it out.
Michael: 1:03:51
Yeah, I think that having that thing, that like, drives you towards it to you know what I mean. Like you were, you are so attracted to those new adventures and activities and the exploration of it, like that's something that you crave and something that you require for your happiness. And you've known that all along and you've had those traveling experiences to know that like, okay, I need to see what else is out there and I need to keep doing that. And, as you said, that's not for everybody. But I think that even even if you're just taking a trip, like go somewhere new, like just find your way around, talk to the people, get, get to know people there and be known, you know, spend a little time somewhere else and and you can always come home and there's some consistency that really exists here in this community of like yeah, maybe some of the shops have changed or, you know, there's some new buildings around town and things like that, but the general spirit of it and the shape of it, I think, will always kind of remain in in some respect.
Lily: 1:05:03
Yeah, yeah and but again it's like we change along with it. We do what we needed a year ago or five years ago or ten years ago is totally different From what we need or expect today or tomorrow. Right, and I think that's also. Yeah, that's just like a beautiful part of life. It's like I've just sort of accepted the free fall. I brought it on to myself,
Michael: 1:05:27
You just went ahead and jumped and then checked your parachute after, just like, okay, good, it's working.
Lily: 1:05:35
But sometimes it's like I can blame Amsterdam or like blame the blame, the choice, sometimes so easily.
Michael: 1:05:43
But I'm also like, all the circumstances, right, the economy as you're saying. It's like, yeah, it was already a difficult time to be out there and find yeah, for sure I mean.
Lily: 1:05:52
But that's the thing, like I said, sometimes you're faced with challenges you don't know how you're gonna like rise to it or rise above it and like, even after all the things I've done, I still don't know. Like I have to choose every day, like okay, how do I get over this one? But, um, yeah, there's just like what you're saying as well even if you don't have to travel far, you can travel or go somewhere and Experience something different that can grow, shape you into a newer version of yourself. It doesn't have to be like extreme. It can be a small thing like oh, I discovered that I really like this type of food. Or oh, I discovered like this type of music or a new type of art or something you know. Like there's so many things that you can learn about yourself and then bring that back home. Not everybody needs to like just get a one-way ticket and go somewhere super far, unknown, but you can if you want. You should totally try it if you're open to like studying abroad is a great way. Mm-hmm, did that as well. Yeah, I, I had been to the Netherlands a few times before, but I also studied, did like a summer program at one of the University of Leiden, which is near Amsterdam. So like it wasn't like I just got a ticket to somewhere I'd never been at all. You know, I had visited at least, and had like a general sense. But even then it's mind-blowing how different it is to visit somewhere for six days or six weeks or even six months, versus like staying for a whole year or two or five or ten. Yeah, 14, yeah, it's really. I remember there being a distinctive point where I was like oh, I like live here, and I remember it was there's like a. There's points along my journey where I'm like oh, yeah, okay, like this is my life, like this one.
Michael: 1:08:02
I'm not just visiting anymore. No, exactly.
Lily: 1:08:05
I'm not in Kansas anymore. Um yeah, I was like wait, oh yeah, like this is my life, like I have, this is my life. And then I remember being it, being at stardust, as one does, and chatting with people, and someone introduced me To someone new and they said like hey, this is Lily, my friend from Amsterdam. I was like what?
Michael: 1:08:31
I'm from here.
Lily: 1:08:32
What do you mean? Like I'm from here, they're like, yeah, but you don't even like live here anymore. I was like who am I? Like I'm not from Amsterdam, like I'm from Florida, I mean, because it's so much of my life in Amsterdam is introducing myself as I'm Lily. Oh, I'm the American girl. Oh, I'm the writer from Florida, like you know that your identity is so tied to here over there. So much and now over here.
Michael: 1:08:57
It's like it's tied to there.
Lily: 1:08:58
Yeah, and I was like, wait what? And they're like, yeah, you don't even live here anymore.
Michael: 1:09:02
I was like, well, maybe technically how many years in was that that you like kind of put that together.
Lily: 1:09:09
I feel like this only happens. Maybe this was like probably three or four years ago. I think that it that it happened.
Michael: 1:09:17
See, were there like nearly a decade before you.
Lily: 1:09:19
Yeah, the people who were, like, committed to the idea. Yeah, for sure, like I always was like this is a one year thing. I mean, I had all of these different chapters during the pandemic.
Michael: 1:09:30
No, it was definitely before that it was.
Lily: 1:09:32
I think it was probably around the time that I got my own apartment and then things are in my name, I mean, I have a landlord. The housing system is corrupt in Amsterdam too. I will not sugarcoat it for you. It's not like a utopia. We have all the same problems of capitalism and exploitation over there too, and I should mention like I don't know, can I say this like the weed is not that special over there. I can say that Like that was definitely at times like a perk of living there for sure, but that was not my motive. I'm honestly such a nerd like I moved there because I liked the museums and I thought it would be cool to live in a city that's full of bicycles, yeah, and I really thought like I can be like a cute Amelie nerd and ride my bike around and, like I don't know, just experience life in Europe and like journal at a cafe.
Michael: 1:10:31
Like that's.
Lily: 1:10:31
I don't know.
Michael: 1:10:32
And you've done it.
Lily: 1:10:33
Yeah, totally, and I still ride my bike around with my journal and go to a cafe. So I mean I guess I'm living my dream. But yeah, like there are so many great restaurants, museums, like just really cool art scene going on there, I will say, like I think it's not as bohemian and counterculture as it used to be. In like 2010, the government it was quite a drama. They shut down a lot of squats. Squatting is something that's like integral to Amsterdam's. Like Seoul you can watch some YouTube videos about it like in the 60s, really huge housing crisis and people took over these old, amazing old buildings and actually it's like artists lofts. Essentially, yeah, but it's like thanks to those squats, which actually were like pretty organized incorporated groups, they saved so much of the historical center that would have otherwise probably been like gone to rot and then turn into some like dorky building. So like we see that in the States, especially right, like in Orlando. That's a great example. There are tons of cute bungalows and cute little downtown, historic downtown areas right. So often, because the way the system is like, things just get dilapidated and instead of saying like, oh, let's keep it cute and historical, they just knock it down and put in a strip mall or put in some like ugly cement building and it's like why would you want a strip mall if you could have like Winter Park or Audubon Park? Like why would you? I think, like why would you want to do that? And now, like Audubon Park is a great example, like the strip malls here have become all these really cool independent, unique businesses bakeries, you know, vintage stores and breweries, like all of this stuff. That was like, Redlight used to be what? An air conditioning store or something like that and now it's this awesome community of beer and food and creativity and laughter and joy and memories for so many people. And now, like our generation, is making stuff cute again.
Michael: 1:12:56
Yeah, it's true that historic preservation and the adaptive reuse, like East End Market, is a perfect example of this, this building that just got this entirely new life and they kept the architecture of it and made it something really beautiful and really key to our neighborhood and to Central Florida. I mean, it's influenced the opening of other food halls and markets and it really kind of set the standard in a lot of ways and it's just right here in the neighborhood.
Lily: 1:13:29
So yeah, it's a game changer and so many of our friends were a big part of making that happen and bringing that to life. That's really cool. Yeah, what a life huh. Yeah we get to hang out in Audubon Park and everywhere we go is full of friends and yummy things and good energy. Like this is a really special little bubble. It is a magical bubble.
Michael: 1:13:58
Yeah, it's a bubble that invites everybody who wants to be part of it. It's like there's room for everybody and, yeah, we love it. It inspired this podcast. I felt like it needed to be talked about a little bit more and people need to know more about it. So, Lily, thank you for sharing your story and for taking the time to talk to me today. Where can people find you online? What are the socials and you've got a website as well.
Lily: 1:14:29
A currently poorly updated blog. It's lily wanderlust, but lily wanderlustcom if you want to find some cool Amsterdam city guides on there, some other fun travel stories. There's plenty on there, and my Instagram is also lily wanderlust and I will say that's poorly updated right now as well.
Michael: 1:14:51
I mean there's a lot of history there.
Lily: 1:14:53
Yeah, yeah for sure, but I feel like it's always like an unspoken rule that if you have questions about Amsterdam or traveling people will send you my way. So we can extend that to our Audubon Park Garden District listeners.
Michael: 1:15:11
Totally.
Lily: 1:15:13
I'm always happy to give tips and I have some fun Amsterdam articles coming out soon–one on Lonely Planet and another book in the Frodener's Travel Guide to Amsterdam. So I should get back on my blog and share some fun stories, maybe get that Green Springs one published.
Michael: 1:15:32
That would be fun. Yeah, I can't wait to see your photos, too.
Lily: 1:15:35
Yeah, I mean we'll do that after this, but feel free to find me if you're so inclined, and thank you so much, Tipso, for having me. This was really fun to sit around and chat with you. I feel like we should just put a microphone in the car next time we go on a nature adventure.
Michael: 1:15:53
I know, I know.
Lily: 1:15:55
See how it goes, it's always so wonderful.
Michael: 1:15:57
I'm glad we took the time to do this.
Lily: 1:15:59
Yeah, thank you for having me over. Just another memory for our extensive memory book.
Michael: 1:16:06
I love it, yeah. Well, we'll see you around the neighborhood.
Lily: 1:16:08
Sounds great, see you.
