Long Distance Calls

Episode 15: Did we forget that we have a podcast? MAYBE! But it was fun to be back gabbin’ together once again. Megan and Taylor chat about their recent travels, get in their feels about gratitude, and discuss how to instill perspective - might it be through a sad documentary that you force your children to watch? The answer is YES. Also, Megan accidentally gives patriot vibes when talking about her love of the US, and we doubled up on hyper-fixations this week because we... wanted to. Hyperfixations: Megan: Thoughts vs. Thinking - Don’t Believe Everything You Think  90s Rap Playlist  Taylor: Perspective & gratitude - Documentary: Poverty in the USA  Podcast episode with Matt Reynolds Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠  

Episode 14: We are back, baby! It’s 2024! It’s a brand new year! And we are…. surviving! Megan and Taylor discuss a few highlights/lowlights from the last few months and talk honestly about moving through tough times, the tricky side to hope, and how having feelings about the feelings can make a situation worse. But all in all, it was good to break out the microphones and get back on the metaphorical podcasting horse. We can only go up from here, y’all, so it's lookin’ good!  Hyperfixations: Megan: All of us Strangers  - Megan post-film viewing  Taylor: Low-level goals  Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here. FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 13: It has been a minute! Taylor shares about her recent trip to Budapest with her friend Lindsay, which leads us to discuss the importance of friendships, how you never know when your next friend is right around the corner, and we touch on our favorite topic: chemistry! We have to, of course, quickly address our favorite himbo's dum dum tweets (Travis Kelce) and cover two very different hyper-fixations. Hyperfixations: Megan: Protein. ⁠Are we eating too much of it?? ⁠ Taylor: ⁠Noah Kahan⁠ Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan:⁠ ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠⁠ Taylor:⁠ ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor:⁠ ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠⁠

Episode 12: It's Halloween, ya freaks! So far, it sounds like the Germans don’t quite get as into it as we do in the States, but TBD tonight. Taylor gives an update on fall break and her family trip to Dresden. She takes note of a few quirky interactions with fellow travelers while using a shared space, which leads us to the hot topic of the episode: consideration. Is it cultural? What does it look like in a relationship? Is it nature vs nurture? And should we write Gary Chapman and have him add it as the 6th love language? Immediately yes. We also hyper-fixate on 1989 and the new vault songs while making a vow to have more dynamic personalities next week. We promise you guys!  Hyperfixations: Megan & Taylor: 1989 Taylor’s Version  Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 11: Taylor provides an update on life and her family in Berlin: the good, the hard, and the gloomy. Megan overshares a flirty story from her travels in Belfast, and we discuss our very different initial reactions to it. And finally, (did you really think we wouldn't do this?) we took a few glorious minutes to bask in the Taylor-and-Travis-sun together, and we've never felt more seen.  Hyperfixations: Megan & Taylor: Duhhhhhh. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce   Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 10: Just a short little guy this week, for reasons we explain in the episode, but we missed you guys! Taylor gives us an unglamorous day-in-the-life, and we chit-chat about our current hyperfixations. We will be back next week in all of our silly goose glory.  Hyperfixations: Megan: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld & Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan Tay: The BECKHAM Documentary Series   Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 9: Taylor and Megan spend a bit of time examining their egos in this episode and deciding just how fragile they actually are. They break the fourth wall and discuss how making the podcast has left them feeling exposed at times and how this feeling relates to other areas of their lives. Also, Megan is very concerned about Taylor’s mail situation and how she might go to jail for missing jury duty. BUT WILL SHE THO?  Hyperfixations: Megan: LED Face Mask   Tay: Comedian Lisa Gilroy: @thelisagilroy   Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 8: Megan and Taylor take a silly little (hot girl) walk down memory lane, prompted by a new German school tradition for Taylor's boys. Covering everything from talent shows to the Titanic movie, life before cell phones, traumatizing “games” that still haunt them to this day, and the delusional confidence of one middle school-aged Megan Spellman. Hyperfixations: Megan: Letter choice by customer service representatives    Taylor: e.l.f. Instant Lift Brow Pencil    Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK:Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 7: Taylor and Megan really hit all the high notes in this episode. And by high notes, we actually mean low notes. We’ve got anxiety! We’ve got depression! We’ve got asthma attacks! We’ve got accusations against Disney for lying to us our whole lives! It’s just a little dose of being a human this week, folks, and hopefully, you can relate. If not, catch us next week once our serotonin levels have rebounded.  Hyperfixations: Megan: Tinx Box Theory for Dating  Taylor: Ed Sheeran: The Sum Of It All Documentary   Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 6: It’s back-to-school week in Germany for Taylor's boys! Megan recaps her latest travels, and they both reflect on the complexities of adult relationships and having friends for different seasons — also, mouse-sized kombucha (!!!) and self-imposed school uniforms.  Hyperfixations: Megan: Cillian Murphy (NYT: The Eyes of Cillian Murphy) Peaky Blinders  Taylor: The Holderness Family Podcast - Back to School Pep Talk with Dr. Hope Seidel   Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 5: Taylor continues to sweat it out in Germany without A/C. She dissects some recent humiliating moments and tries to identify which childhood wound caused her to lash out at a German cashier. Megan talks out a bridesmaid dress debacle and teaches our male listeners about all the various ways to conceal body parts. Also, some real talk on why women are made to feel dumb in society and how we're actually the f-ing best.  Hyperfixations: Megan: Sophia Bush's divorce (Yikes, sorry! But look how pretty her wedding dress was!)  Taylor: Chocolate Croissants How to Prepare Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants - The Default Cook   Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: ⁠@meganmcsweeneys⁠ Taylor: ⁠@taylorbfontenot⁠ TIKTOK: Taylor: ⁠@taylorinberlin⁠

Episode 4: Megan brags about joining Soho House and ponders “to thong or not to thong” at the pool. Taylor and her family navigate the train systems, visit her boys' new school, and learn that German parents think it's totally normal to ship their 4th graders off to a castle for a week as a field trip. Plus, a little bit of (actual) trash talk.  This Week’s Hyperfixations: Megan: ⁠Darriel & Ashton's Taylor Swift TikToks  Taylor: ⁠The Berlin Trash System  This Week’s Shoutouts: Taylor Swift (evergreen shoutout), Tree Paine⁠, Megan’s next-door neighbors - Kacy & Cale, Soho House Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: @meganmcsweeneys Taylor: @taylorbfontenot TIKTOK: Taylor: @taylorinberlin

A lil’ introduction and background on who we are and why we are doing this podcast. Honestly, we didn’t think anyone would listen, so we are, dare we say, flattered that an intro was requested. Shout out to our mystery listener in Australia. LYLAS!!!

Episode 3: Taylor and her family made it to Germany! Megan finally saw the Barbie movie! Equally huge things are happening in their lives! On the podcast this week, Megan and Taylor catch up on the last week, get used to the time difference and struggle with the German wifi - spoiler alert - it is terrible. Taylor reflects on her last few days in Colorado, a long layover in NYC, then the first days of jet lag in Berlin. Megan loves the feminine energy this year has been giving, and they both dissect what the girlies in Berlin are wearing right now. This Week’s Hyperfixations: Megan: The Barbie Movie Taylor: Lack of Flying Embers Hard Kombucha in Germany This Week’s Shoutouts: Pizza place in Berlin, Aldi grocery store, Taylor Swift (duh) Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now all the way to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: @meganmcsweeneys Taylor: @taylorbfontenot TIKTOK: Taylor: @taylorinberlin

Episode 2: On the podcast this week, Megan and Taylor debrief Taylor’s last weeks in America, what it looks like to pack and move a family of five across the globe, what a 250-person going-away party looks like, and all the housing logistics of owning a house in one country and renting one in another. They also reminisce on how they first met through the swim team (shout out to Nantucket Express!), how their first jobs were possibly the peak of their lives, and talk about the nuance of having a career (or not!) and how it plays into our identity. This Week’s Hyperfixations: Megan: So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings song by Caroline Polachek Taylor: Anti-Wrinkle Face Patches from Amazon  This Week’s Shoutouts: Our moms, Lexapro, Shrinking on AppleTV, Trader Joe’s almonds, Adam & Steph and “The Babies,” Parkview High School, Outback Steakhouse, Screenplay Video, Chelsea (@chelseapetaja) Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: @meganmcsweeneys Taylor: @taylorbfontenot TIKTOK: Taylor: @taylorinberlin

Episode 1: Meet Megan and Taylor! Two best friends whose 30-year friendship has included countless long-distance calls across numerous states and, now, continents. Taylor and her family of five are packing up their lives and moving from Fort Collins, Colorado, to Berlin, Germany (!!) And they are using this podcast as an excuse to catch up weekly and hear everything happening in Nashville and Berlin - all those high highs and low lows of life. In this first episode, Megan peppers Taylor with questions about the move, why they decided to take this leap, and they discuss the roller coaster she has been feeling pursuing this dream. Megan admits to both telling a grown man she was proud of him and being too obsessed with teens on television.   This Week’s Hyperfixations: Megan: ⁠The Summer I Turned Pretty⁠ series on Prime Video Taylor: ⁠Taylor Swift being in Denver⁠, ⁠Daisy Jones and the Six⁠ series on Prime Video, ⁠Daisy Jones and the Six⁠ book by Taylor Jenkins Reid This Week’s Shoutouts: Our moms, John & Jordan Balmer (@johnbalmer, @jelirob), ⁠Crumbl Cookies⁠, Taylor’s sister-in-law Caroline (@carolinefontenot) Megan and Taylor are best friends of 30 years, originating in Lilburn, Georgia, and spanning across Alabama, Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and now to Berlin, Germany. Join them as they catch up weekly to unpack Taylor’s move to Berlin with her husband and three sons and all the hilarious and moving things experienced along the way.  Long Distance Calls Podcast is edited and engineered by Megan and Taylor themselves with the help of, well, no one really. Thanks for being here.  FOLLOW ALONG FOR MORE! INSTAGRAM: Megan: @meganmcsweeneys Taylor: @taylorbfontenot TIKTOK: Taylor: @taylorinberlin

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On the podcast this week, Megan and Taylor debrief Taylor’s last weeks in America, what it looks like to pack and move a family of five across the globe, what a 250-person going-away party looks like, and all the housing logistics of owning a house in one country and renting one in another. They also reminisce on how they first met through the swim team, how their first jobs were possibly the peak of their lives, and now project how Taylor will transition from being a registered nurse back in the States to her new role as a Hausfrau (German housewife). Will she still be able to eat vegetables while living in Europe? Only time will tell. This Week’s Hyperfixations: Megan: So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings song by Caroline Polachek Taylor: Anti-Wrinkle Face Patches from Amazon 

Meet Megan and Taylor as they introduce themselves and what led to the creation of this podcast: a 30-year friendship that has included countless long-distance calls across numerous states and now continents. Come along for the adventure as Taylor and her family of five move from Fort Collins, Colorado, to Berlin, Germany, and catch up weekly with Megan back in Nashville to recap all the highs and lows. This Week’s Hyperfixations: Megan: The Summer I Turned Pretty series on Prime Video Taylor: Daisy Jones and the Six series on Prime Video