The Empty Nest Kitchen

Vintage Vibes with Mindy Cawley of Vintage MC

• Christine Van Bloem • Season 2 • Episode 25

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This week, Christine sits down with Mindy Cawley, the owner of Vintage MC in Frederick, Maryland. They discuss Mindy's journey from farm life to running a successful vintage shop specializing in mid-century modern furniture and retro items. They explore the vibrant local support for small businesses in Frederick, thanks to initiatives like the Downtown Frederick Partnership and the Main Street Program. Mindy highlights the thrill of community events such as the 'Sailing Through the Winter Solstice' fundraiser, where decorated boats, including her own 'Dancing Queen 2.0,' bring light and joy during the winter. The conversation touches on balancing business and family life, the humor of family involvement, and the bittersweet aspects of dealing with empty nest syndrome. Mindy shares her gift for staying ahead of trends, the strong support in her community, and the joy of connecting with customers through her love for vintage and retro decor.

00:00 Introduction and Menopause Meal Plan Info
00:57 Meet Mindy Cawley from Vintage MC
01:21 The Story Behind Vintage MC
02:07 Expanding the Vintage Shop
03:19 Trends and Popular Items
13:03 The Charm of Downtown Frederick
14:24 Support for Local Businesses
16:35 Main Street Programs and Grants
21:34 Upcoming Trends and Holiday Plans
24:10 Winter Fundraising with Sailing Through the Winter Solstice
24:28 Decorating Boats for Charity
25:49 The Dancing Queen 2.0 Project
26:11 Holiday Preparations and Hustling for Donations
26:38 The Challenges and Joys of Small Business Ownership
27:38 Creative Fundraising Ideas
37:12 Reflections on Empty Nest Life
43:10 Favorite Local Eateries
44:35 Where to Find Mindy and Vintage MC



 Hey, Christine here. And I just wanted to say if butternut squash, pasta, or a gorgeous Turkey hominy chili, or. Even Italian Turkey, sausage skillet, pasta. Sound good to you. Well, you should be checking out menopause meal plans. Not only is each meal. Really. Made just for you to help alleviate some symptoms of menopause. But it's pretty darn tasty too. So, if you get a chance, I've got a link in the show notes. 

Go ahead and check that out. And now it's time for  📍 the show.    

 Well, hey there, and as always, happy day. I am talking with one of truly just my favorite zippy ladies that I love. Uh, welcome to Mindy Cawley from Vintage 

MC. How are ya? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Chris. I'm excited to chat with you today. 

Oh my gosh, Mindy, I have to say that talking to you is just so exciting for me because I just think the sun rises and sets here on you because Mindy is the neatest.

She has a vintage shop here in the town that I live in, Frederick, Maryland, Vintage MC. And can I tell you how long it took me to figure out that Vintage MC stands for both.  Mid Century, and Mindy Cawley very convenient, right? Yeah!  So, tell, I mean, tell me a little 

about what you did.  Uh, well, first of all, I have the same, um, response when you invited me.

I was like, Chris asked me to be on her podcast! I'm so excited! I felt, like, thrived! So I'm excited too. Um, so I own, as you said, a vintage shop in downtown Frederick. We primarily focus on mid century modern furniture, authentic mid century modern furniture, but we have expanded. We moved into this bigger space going on four years ago now.

And in the bigger space, we've expanded to some new offerings that kind of are retro or mid century themed, um, like mugs, housewares, gift things. We still are primarily furniture, but we do have those things. And then we also have vintage clothing now. So we've kind of grown the brand, um, to accommodate more customers because we have so much more foot traffic where we are in downtown.

But our bread and butter is still our vintage, authentic vintage mid century modern furniture. That we buy in the area. We also import from Denmark and we do a lot of refinishing and restoration. So what people see in the store is pretty much, almost looks like the day it came off the, well, probably not the assembly line, out of the, the, the wood workshop.

We try to bring things back to their original condition and offer them for sale for people who love mid century. 

And 

I mean, I just love it. I love coming in your shop. What time 

period? It's mid century. 

So it's primarily 1950s and 60s. Uh, we have branched out a little later beyond that because as trends evolve, people are getting into 70s and, you know, the 90s is now vintage, which is super alarming.

No, it's not. Of my age. No. I mean, honestly, 20 years is, is vintage. So like, 2000 is now vintage. That's super alarming, but, but our, our furniture design is definitely 50s, 60s, but we do branch into some of that kind of boho, hippie, chic 70s. And then we have disco, which really, actually, disco balls came out in the 40s, but they had a big resurgence during, of course, the 70s disco era.

So we have that vibe going too. That is 

so funny. Yeah, I love the furniture. It's beautiful. The things that you have are totally beautiful. And you do, I do love, you catch a theme. Like, you are so quick on things. It's something that I just really admire. You did those, um, because we're in, I don't know if I would say we're in a tourist town.

I don't think we are. It's getting to be, I feel like. Yeah, we get, we get some tourist traffic, um, but you did those cool like motel keychains. Oh yeah, yeah. Right? And you did some of those, you guys know the kind we're talking about, they're like the, the plastic, they're almost like a rounded diamond. What 

you got at motels in the 870s to the 2000s, 90s at least, like the roadside motel keychains, that's what they remind me of, yeah.

It made 

me think of Vegas. Yeah. Have 

I ever been to Vegas? No. 

They 

remind me of those like, like, uh, like the Barber Fritchie Motel used to look like these roadside hotels that are in 14 rooms that you drive right up to and you got this key on this giant key chain. That's what they remind me of. But yeah, they've been really popular and they have like, like the Overlook Hotel from The Shining.

Uh, The Bates Motel, and just different themes, and they've been really popular. We've had those for, gosh, probably three years now. Yeah, that makes sense. And we were kind of, we were kind of ahead of the trend on several, like, the disco balls. We started doing disco balls, well, five years ago. Oh my gosh.

Before I even moved, I had disco balls at the old school. Yeah. That we decorated with, but we added them to sell about three years ago. And then  a year or two later, then Target has them and everybody has them. So mushrooms, we did mushrooms before they exploded. So I, I try to stay ahead of the trends and honestly. 

Pre Empty Nest, it was easier because I had teenagers and young adult kids who I would hear what they were talking about or what their friends were talking about. So I, I feel like that was a little bit of a cheat and now I'm kind of on my own.  I mean, your kids are, you're still tight with your kids. For sure.

For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't see them every day to like overhear the conversation.  Oh, what's Maggie wearing today? Like, uh, she, you know, she has the duck. Charms on her glasses. That's a new trend. Heard it here first. Like green eyeglass chains. Yeah. You know, and she has those, but then she has charms that hang from the front and she has like duckies and she has geese and little jewels and she gets comments everywhere she goes with those.

And I'm like, I probably need to carry those in the store. Cause it's going to be a thing. Cause my. Get on it. Yeah. I'm telling you. And geese, she saw the goose trend before I did, you know, the eighties and nineties geese, like kitchen geese.  Canisters with them on and yeah,  that's a big thing now and she was ahead of that by like a year She started buying every goose thing.

She saw when we were out that you know picking together and I'm like Nobody's going to buy these. They're too recent and they're geese. And I can't keep them in the store now. 

Isn't that so funny? Eyeglass charms and geese. We have a neighbor, a couple houses down that has a goose that it's since, I mean, we've been here more than 20 years, that she has all of the costumes for like it's out of her front porch.

And I had never seen that before. And she has. Everything. I mean, bless her heart. She has everything and I get such a charge out of it. That's hilarious. Yeah. I think I, I think I've hit the phase of my life where nothing is stupid anymore. Like I think if I was 30 and I was jaded because I was super jaded, I'd be like, and now I'm like, Oh, 

is that the greatest?

I love it so much. I, I'm, I'm leading with love and everything. 

I love that. And you know what? I feel like a lot of. People in my, my kids age and I think your, your kids age too, like in their twenties are more like that. Like, they're not very judgy. They're kind of like, whatever brings you joy, you should do, or you should have.

So like, they don't have friends who are like, geese are stupid. Why would you, they're like, that's so cool for you. Like, I love your granny energy or whatever it is. So I think that helps like build all these fun trends that I mean, that the they're not millennials. What are they? Gen Z is like the charge on that kind of thing.

Yeah. They're super into vintage, which is great for me too. so how did you get started in this?  Uh, well, basically we, we moved into downtown, we had a farm before this. I don't know if you knew that about me. I didn't. Um, so we moved into Frederick, uh, two, 13.  12 years ago, 13 years, from out in the county into town.

And we bought, we rented a little house, um, over by Mount Olivet Cemetery. That was like a 1940s post war little rancher. And I went looking for furniture and decided to go mid century because that was the era of the house. And I couldn't find anything here in Frederick. And we ended up going to DC and College Park and shops down there to find things.

And. My friends here were like, Ooh, I like that dresser you got. If you see another one, let me know. Or I like that lamp. Where did you find that mid century lamp? So I sort of saw that that was popular in DC and super popular in  New York at the time. This was like  2011, 12. Um,  so I thought, Hmm, maybe there's a market here.

My kids were starting to get to the age where they were independent. So I rented a booth at an antique store here and just to kind of test the waters. And it, It went like, there was nobody in the mall, nobody doing Mid Century Modern. It was all, you know, farmhouse or true antique. And I came in with Mid Century and they look kind of, you know, side eye at me like, I don't think that's going to do well.

And it, it, it did great pretty much from the get go. So it just kind of built from there. When I saw, there was definitely a desire for it here, and people would travel to find it here, too. So it just kind of went, I started in one mall, moved to Cannon Hill, after that, had several booths there, and then opened our first shop on Carroll Street in, uh, 2017. 

That's so cool. So it was not really a plan, you just kind of fell into it, 

right? Yeah, and, and I was, so I homeschooled my kids, and so my youngest was nine at the time when we moved here into town, so I was kind of like ready to figure out what I was going to be when I grew up.  Yeah, like I had done book editing while they were younger and things that I could do from home, um, and some, uh, some marketing for people, but  this really sparked my creativity and I've always loved, I've always loved vintage everything.

I've always loved going, we used to go to auctions when we had the farm to buy equipment or whatever. So auctions were definitely, you know, in my blood. So when this sort of was coming together, I was like, oh, I get to shop all the time at auctions and have furniture. Yeah. Yes, please. So it just kind of started as a side gig for me while I was still parenting and all those things, but, and just grew from there.

But it was at a time where I was  looking for something that I could start doing part time and eventually, you know, do as, as more of a full time job. And it just kind of, it all came together pretty well.  in my life plan, I guess. I 

love, um, you have great social media. Thank you. And I love to follow your social media.

And some of my favorites are when you are going picking. Yeah. Yeah. They're everybody's favorites. 

I can make the most beautiful video of a piece of furniture, stunning this and that, and people are like, you know, 20 likes. I mean, a little more than that, but I do some one silly five second thing of somebody sliding a garage door open with like, what's in here?

And I had like, a hundred thousand likes. I'm like, okay, I don't need to spend an hour putting together something pretty because you guys like the down and dirty, uh, Let's see if she gets murdered in this barn video.  

I think that's the vibe though, right? Because it's so authentic and, you know, I mean, seriously, it is a little Silence of the Lambs going into it.

It is a little bit, yeah. Storage 

units. It's the mystery of what's going to be in there. Like, that's why I do it, right? Because I want to come in behind the door and find the great finds, so. Have 

you, have you ever seen, I'm sure you have, when they, they have the shows where they, like, buy the storage unit and they don't  Obsessed!

Obsessed! Because I'm always like, oh, it's gonna be another Al Capone's fault. There's nothing in there. And then, you know, most of the time, it is Al Capone's fault. And they find nothing in there. But sometimes, I'm like, oh, 

it's amazing! That's so cool! I love it. 

And usually it's grandma's junk. 

Yes, exactly.

Yep. 

Yeah.  So, okay, so you've got this wonderful shop and you actually kind of made a bold move because you moved into a downtown area, right? And downtowns can be tricky,  but  We both are deeply in love with downtown Frederick and it's ridiculous to be in love with a place. I literally just got back from LA yesterday and I know people were looking at me because I like stepped out, got off the little bus at my car and it felt all Maryland y and, you know, Temperatures, and L.

A. was super pumped. I was like, Oh, Maryland! I'm so happy to be home! And some ladies, she's looking at me, I'm like, Oh!  You know, and then you drive into, and anybody who's listening, you know, Frederick, Maryland, this is where we live. And it is just, I just love it. I love it so much. It's so special. Like, I really feel like it's unique.

Yeah, I really do feel like it's unique. 

It is, and you know, downtown areas have not, I mean They've not been a thing, but you look at a mall nowadays, or something like that,  and you can see, you know, the name stores are leaving, and you're starting to get the one offs and all of that. And I think there is a real resurgence in downtowns, and you're kind of front and center in all of that.

I, you know, I think Frederick was a leader in that to a large extent. I mean, it's, you know, the, the downtown and the resurgence of the shop small and shop local thing. I feel like Frederick was at the forefront in Maryland, at least for that trend, you know, like years ago now we started to get. That food scene started coming back here and we've always had really cool independent retailers, just people, not as many people knew and there weren't as many.

So, 

yeah, 

I mean, it's a very special community here because it is almost all independent retailers. The majority are locally owned. I mean, people live right here in town that own the businesses, a lot of them.  We know our customers, our customers know us, and there's such support for shopping local in Frederick, even before it was like trendy and the buzzword, you know, post COVID, it had a big resurgence.

But even before that, I just felt like the support in Frederick was really unique. And I didn't, didn't know that when we, I mean, I'm from Washington County, so I've lived here in the area most of my life, but. I never thought about it from owning a business standpoint. We didn't move here to open a business.

So it was definitely, um, just worked out so well because when we started looking, when I started looking at opening a brick and mortar and realized how supportive the community was. And, you know, we have this great Main Street, um, organization, the Downtown Partnership, which you're very familiar with, 

does a lot 

to support local businesses.

And to some extent, the government does a lot to support local businesses here. And there's just, um, I, I, I didn't realize how unique that was and how fortunate I was to choose this place to open this business. But I don't know that I would have been nearly successful anywhere else or almost anywhere else.

You know, when you're in these downtowns where you're competing with Old Navy and anthropology, you know, it's, it's really hard to, to, uh, to hang in there with that. And, and it's so special that Frederick doesn't have all those chain stores. You know, it's really unique retail opportunities and the shopping is so unique here.

So people keep coming back.  

Yeah, I think these Main Street programs, and I mean, you mentioned Downtown Frederick Partnership, and I worked there for just a year and a half. I was only there that long, but I've been familiar with them for  ever. Right? And I have lived in the downtown area since 97, and I have watched it grow.

Just grow, and grow, and grow, and I love the growth, but one of the things that happens with these Main Street programs that I think is so good, is they are conduits for lots of grants for small businesses, right, for different things, and a lot of them are matching grants, but there are so many different Programs that anybody who's listening that this is interesting to them.

Definitely check and see if you have a Mean Street program, because we gave so many grants that weren't directly coming from us, but we were facilitating. And that was not my end of things, marketing all day, baby, but watching, watching them come up with, you know, Mission Interior grants where you could  I mean, gosh, I watch people get so much money to fix, you know, to put sprinklers in an old building or things like that.

Which is so 

important in this kind of town to have that. Yeah, we use the facade grant for both locations and, you know, it, it was something we had to spend, we had put signs up, we couldn't not have signs. So, you know, it wasn't like I went. Looking for something to spend grant money on. I had to do this thing and then they matched half, so it cut my cost in half.

And yeah, and you know, the city's doing one right now that we did apply for. We'll see if we hear back, but um, growth money basically for existing businesses to grow and, and those kinds of things do come up fairly regularly here. And it's, and you know, another huge part was during COVID. The, the main program, the downtown partnership did so much to you.

Find opportunities, you know, to financially assist the small businesses so that we, we could stay open or, you know, stay  prepared enough to reopen when the time came. And, you know, I don't know that we would have made it through without that. And I think that's the case for a lot of businesses here in Frederick that really survived thanks to all that support. 

And I know PI friends in other areas that own small businesses at the time, and  a lot of them had a much harder time getting assistance and some of them didn't make it through. So I think that's a huge benefit. Again, that whole support of local businesses that is so special here. 

Yeah, I think, and anybody who's interested, just, it's literally called a Mean Street Program.

And the, the organizations, I mean, Frederick is so lucky because ours is really administered by Downtown Frederick Partnership that has four employees, and that's crazy unusual. That's a lot, a lot of times these are one woman, one man shows that are working with your local government, that are working with local merchants and all that.

But the Main Street Organization is a national organization, and it's just, it's really great. It's just such a mission that I think we can totally Absolutely. Get behind it. Like there's no reason to not get behind it. Right, 

right. The other places, the other places to look for people that are thinking about starting a small business in a town like this is the Small Business SBA,  Small Business Administration, and the town's Economic Development Office.

Some of them are better than others. We, we have, we've been toying with the idea of another location. We went into a few offices in other towns and they're like, You want what? Like, do you have an economic development? They're like an economic what now? Like, okay. Yeah. And ours, 

ours here, because we have one specifically for the city and one specifically for the county.

And again, just extraordinary. I don't know. You know, I, it's such a love letter. It was so hard when I left that job because I'm just such a huge fan of it. These are things that as a lay person, I didn't know this stuff existed. And I had a fellow, uh, who worked with me when I started my first business, or I guess my second, when I started the Kitchen Studio Cooking School.

And he helped me get, did he help me get two grants, I think? And one grant was playing that I was just starting, and the other was playing that I was, had been established because both things were true because I had the other business. Yeah, yeah. And it was, I mean, I think it was a 5, 000 grant for one thing.

Which is a lot of money for a small business when you're starting up. 

Yeah. It 

was incredible. It was, I mean, just so incredibly lucky. It was a wonderful program. And stuff like that exists. Everywhere. 

Right, right, yeah. Do the research, find the opportunities, because they're out there for sure. 

Yeah, I love that.

All right, so. I want to go back to our trends. I know that eyeglass charms  and the idea, because I am blind as a bat without my glasses, um,  the idea of something hanging from my glasses and like moving, I'm gonna constantly think I'm under assault.  I think it takes 

them getting used to. I haven't tried them, but they seem to, I mean, I guess they're sort of like dangly earrings, the same idea, you know, they kind of hang down to like your chin level or so.

So they 

hang down that far. 

Yeah. They're long. Yeah. Yeah. 

This, this may be for younger people. Cause I'm telling you right now, I'm going to get whacked with charms. I'm going to end up eating a duck. You know, something's gonna happen. Uh, and the geese. What, what else is on, like, what else is on the forecast?

Cause holidays are 

coming up. Okay, well, here's holidays. Pink. It's gonna be a pink Christmas. Like, all shades of pink, but that bubblegum pink. And then candy. Like, um,  Gingerbread House, but on steroids. Or like, the Candyland game. Like, houses that look like The Witch from Hansel and Gretel. Like that, those kind of over the top gingerbread houses with pink and lavender and blue, like This is the thing.

Like, baked good kind of, like, you want to bite right into the house. That, and, and, um, Nutcrackers that also have that look of, like, candy, baked good. Not cartoonish exactly, but they look like they're right out of Candyland.  Isn't that funny? Pink and candy is big this year. Wow. I'm trying to keep We're doing it. 

We're doing it. Go ahead. We're gonna do a crazy store, uh, our Christmas decor is gonna be  off the chain as well. I don't think they say that off the hook. I don't know. We have some big plans for that. So, um, coming soon.  Okay. 

So let me bring this up because this is something I saw on your social the other day.

And I was like, my goodness, they're so smart. Because we have this very cool thing, and again, visit Frederick, Maryland. It's amazing. There's so much cool stuff. But one of the things we have is kind of this canal that runs through the middle of town.  Excuse me. And during the  summer, they fill it now with, we have a non profit that fills it with all of these plants, right?

Like the big water lilies.  And it's just beautiful. It's a really beautiful thing. It makes use of it. There are restaurants down there. But in the winter,  

what do they do? So in the winter, the same organization, in order to raise funds to pay for all the summer flowers, they do a thing called Sailing Through the Winter Solstice.

And they have, I think this year it's going to be 26 boats that get put in the creek from November to March. And they're all decorated in a different theme. And each boat is put on by whatever organization is, we're sponsoring one this year. And they are, um, to benefit a charity. So, you get donations to your boat for your charity.

And they're all They are lit up at night, so they're beautiful at night, but they're also decorated in different really cute ways during the day, and they run the whole length of the creek. The main park that goes through downtown. The water, the, the linear park, which has the creek in it.  It's probably the equivalent of what, maybe, Four sit, three or four city blocks probably of the, yeah, something.

Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. So they're going in the end of November and then they'll be the there throughout the winter. And we get huge crowds that come huge, especially at night because they're just beautiful lit up. They're all very focused on, on Bri, you know, the whole theme was like bringing light to kind of summer or the winter solstice when it's the shortest days of the year and it's dark earlier and it's bringing this light to the creek for people to come and visit.

And they're absolutely. Gorgeous. And it has grown every year and has turned into a every year. Huge thing. People come from all over to visit and spend time there. And, um, so we were fortunate enough to get a spot last year and we did a boat called the Dancing Queen, uh, which Disco Balls? Disco Ball and Dogs.

Our, our, our charity is a, is a dog rescue. So dogs and disco balls is the theme and um, we're sticking with that, but it is the Dancing Queen 2.0 this year because we. Um, upsized to a bigger boat. We're going to need a bigger boat.  So we're working on the Dancing Queen 2. 0. It's again going to be disco and dogs, but just bigger and more dogs, um, and cats too.

So that's happening. We're in the middle of getting ready for the holidays. I'm doing two vintage markets, like a crazy person, that I don't normally do, but I'm doing those. And then Getting this boat set up in the next month. So, to say it's busy is an understatement.  

One of the things that, yeah, I was super happy you could carve time out before the piece, just so you know, but one of the things that I thought it's very clever is you're actually, Hustling.

And this is why I love small business owners, because we hustle non stop. It is a non stop, and I say hustle as a term of reverence and appreciation, not as a bad thing, because I love, I appreciate the hustle. So you are already hustling for donations, and is it 200 bucks somebody can send in their Pet.

Yes. You can send in a picture of their pet. It's just an outline. Correct. It's not the whole thing. 

Because we light the boat from the inside, so they'll be lit, so you see the cutout. And it'll have their name on the window too, but I think we are sold out. I think all the windows are full. 

You know what that means.

We had 16 windows and they're all, um, they're all spoken for, I believe. You know 

what that 

means. We are going to be in first when the fundraising. Next year, 

500 bucks. 

You did not charge enough. I know, probably not, but you know, it's just our jumping off point and um, But yeah, probably, uh, we'll have to bump it up a little next year.

We might offer a few three dimensional, well, they're not really three dimensional, they're two dimensional, but we have dogs on the roof that are, like, dancing. So we may, if I can get them done, we may offer that as, if there are more people that want their pet that can be, like, A cutout of them dancing on the floor.

Oh, and that should be a little, that should be a little pricey. Maybe so. Maybe so. I was, so I said, I was just, I mean, I got back from LA yesterday, like sleep and I are not, like, we don't quite understand each other yet. But one of the things that I saw on a billboard, cause every billboard is either for, my sister in law pointed this out, something in entertainment or car accidents, because like we saw a car accident when we were there.

We heard a huge crash behind us and we're like, okay. Okay. All right. But there was a billboard, a gigantic billboard for Abbott Elementary, which I love, but it was 3D and they had more than life size. I took like four pictures of it at different times because I thought it was so cool. They had more than life size renderings of the people.

Like, think about Claymation, but like super sized of the main characters going across. I'll have to show it to you. It was  I've never seen anything like that. I just thought it was the coolest thing. That's what you need. And the Hollywood 

Budget. Oh, on the boat. Yeah, that would be 

wonderful. 

Well, so like, we like to build up every, we like to add something every year, so we'll file that away for, uh, Is it kind of,  once you get the boat, you've 

got the boat?

Exactly. So you let it go? This, uh, as long as you've raised enough funds. So they, they, the bottom five can get bumped if they, if somebody wants a spot, um, is kind of how they do it. But you do have, I think, a three year.  You're safe for I think at least the first three years to give you a chance to figure out how things work and everything.

But 

that's very clever. As long as 

you participate and you're you know, you're out there trying and working at it. They're gonna definitely invite you back. So we have at least one more year, but I think you know, we We'll be, we're pretty safe, I think, because we do a lot with the fundraising. Um, my daughter, Katie, is big into this too, and her dog also came from the same rescue, so she's very motivated to raise funds for Operation Paws for Homes as well.

And she's a, she's a social media genius, if I do say so.  She's so good. She's great about helping with the fundraising too. It's  something we love to partake in and give back to the community, but it's in a super fun way. So it doesn't, it doesn't feel like giving back. It feels like I'm getting more out of it than I'm, than I'm giving back.

But, um, we really enjoy doing it. So, yeah, we have a lot of ideas like with, um,  what do you call it? Uh, Raspberry Pi, where you can do stuff from your phone to make things move. And I'm like, Hmm, maybe one year we can have an app and all kinds of crazy ideas. 

I haven't even done with that 

yet.  Like in like where you can Interact with something over your phone, right?

But oh my gosh, well, I'll have to find a programmer maybe for next year, but that's not this year.  

I love it. Do you think that doing things like this because this is totally Like it's out of pocket expense for you. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's 

it's not cheap 

It's not cheap and and you guys your family I have met every member of your immediate family And this is not an immediate family with small ideas You  Very true.

Very true. 

Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes also not a lot of common sense when it comes to choosing.  

That's the most fun thing ever. 

Right. 

Please. I, I can't imagine like being able to just be so creative all the time.  

Well, I think you can, cause you are very creative. So I don't think that's true, but yeah, sometimes when, when three or four of us get together with ideas, it can get a little bit, uh, we encourage each other to make, uh, Maybe not the best decisions about what's going on, but I'm married.

I'm married to a realist, 

so it is 

like I'm, I'm creative, but then it's tempered by realism.  

We don't have a lot of realism here. You don't? 

Yeah, no, we don't. But it's amazing. Do you think that doing projects like this, um, do you think it keeps everything fresh for you? Because It's, it's like something, I know that you do a ton of stuff, right?

I know you do markets in addition to having your, your space is big. It's a big space. And you've got some employees and you've got, you know, all of that stuff going on. But can you like really sink your teeth into a project like this? 

For sure. I mean, especially when it's something new, like I, it's probably a little bit of ADHD going on there.

I I'm really good. I'm really, really good at starting projects. Um, it's probably my number one skill, finishing projects so much. And that has been a lifelong, I, um, used to, well, I do still weave and spin and, um, spin yarn and then weave. I have a ridiculous amount of fiber and yarn that I haven't touched in four years because I started it and I gathered all this stuff and it's still sitting there.

So really good at starting projects. Um, but when it's for your business and like there's money on the line, it does motivate you to actually complete them so that it does. But it does, I think it does keep it fresh. You know, it gets you excited when you're getting a little tired and it's getting a little monotonous and then you throw in, Hey, let's build a houseboat with dogs on it, you know, it, it, uh, back in the action again.

So it's definitely fun. But, um, you know, there I'm getting to the point, you know, this empty nest conversation that we've had of.  Where, you know, you'd keep finding new projects, but you have to keep the other things going at the same time and, and like balancing that out and, um, getting to the stage of your life where the business  is still like, you still have room to do these fun and new things, but you have all this to support in the back that that's going on. 

kept it going this long, like kind of the basics, so to speak, and, and finding the balance there of keeping those things going, but still keeping it fresh for yourself is a challenge. But, um, but it definitely, we almost never, we're not very good at saying no to things, so when an opportunity comes,  we generally like, okay, we'll figure it out. 

I love that. I, and I love that it's a family affair. 

Yeah. 

You know, to me, I think that is something that's also really special because empty, you know, you don't have anybody living at home with you right now. I mean, your husband and your 47 dogs, but, but it's like. You only have two. It's such an interesting, and they're sweet, I love them both, um, it's such an interesting phase, right?

Because you go through, especially the small business owner, I think, because you go through all of this time where you throw all your energy into family, and as a homeschool mom, I am for sure, you know, that you were a thousand percent in on that. And then you have the business, so. I mean, we're birds of a feather.

You want to make sure everybody coming in is finding the right stuff, having a great experience. Like, it's always, we have super high standards, right? Super, super high. Because 

it's your name on the  

lease. It is.  Did you have to sign, um, when you signed a lease, did you have to put your house on the line?  

I had to give a personal guarantee.

Like, not specifically my house, but, um. Yeah. But only for like six months. Like I, I would have had to give them six months rent if I broke the lease or something like that. Oh 

no, my lease was basically like, here you go. And I think I was there for, I don't know, I think it was there like 11 or 12 years.

And I said, can we 

take that 

off of there? 

I did. I did put that into my, when it once, I think it was only for three.  Three or four years that went, you know, I, cause I'm like, I'm not, I don't want 10 years from now to say, okay, I'm moving out next month or in six months. And then you go, well, you need another six.

So yeah, it's not, it was not for the life of the loan.  But the scariest part was, you know, in, in, uh, commercial leases, they put the whole year's rent. That on mine was the first number.  Oh my gosh, that is so much money. 

It's so much money. Yeah. 

Yeah. That was my first experience with that. Cause my first lease was not like that.

And this one, I was like,  

yeah, I'll tell you what, I don't think I'll ever have a commercial lease again. I mean, never say never knock wood, but it's certainly not my intention right now. That stuff you have got to have somebody that knows what they're doing. Help you out there. It is, it is really important if you're a newbie and you could be super smart.

I mean, Mindy and I are super smart and very good looking, but you know, it's, it's such a different beast. I think it's really important. 

And it's so, you know, you're putting so much on the line and some of it, you might not even realize you're putting on the line if you don't. Through everything and have somebody look it over and Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.  Oh, we could, we could do a thing on, on how to start your business and look at your darn lease. There you go. Look at that. Yeah, look at that. Well, I wanna go back and then, uh, you can tell me  how has your life pain.  personally, not professionally, since you became an empty nester?  

Uh, well, my house is a lot quieter.

Do you like it or do you not like it? 

I, I'm getting used to it now. So at first it felt, so my, my youngest left for college, uh, in the end of August and the other two have been gone, have been out for a couple years. So, um,  that was, I guess.  That was the hardest. Her leaving was harder than the other two, I feel like, um, just because it felt like such the end, you know?

Yeah. So those first few weeks, and still sometimes now, like, we get home and do our, you know, have dinner or whatever, and then it's like, well, here we are. Just, I think about,  it's you and me, honey, for the next however many decades. This is it. This is it. You and me, the dogs, uh, and my daughter's cat, who still lives here.

But, um, no, it's been I mean, my kids were pretty independent for several years, you know, so we weren't doing a ton of kid centric things for the last  three or four years, I would say.  Um, when really, when I started in the, in the new store was about when they were get, they were all driving by then and, you know, doing their own thing.

Um, so my like schedule didn't change a whole lot, but just the energy in the house is different and I didn't love it at first. It felt, it felt Lonely and quiet, but now I'm kind of enjoying it. And when they are here, it gets loud again. I 

like it, but then I kind of like when they go, my kids.  I think they're going to be in their 50s and they're still going to be wrestling.

And I have a boy and a girl and I love them so much. Uh, but they're, I'm just like, Oh my God, you know, my son is trying to flip my daughter and trying, I mean, it's constant and I love it. Like, I love the noise, but then, They pull out of the driveway. We always go stand on the front porch and wave. And then my husband and I usually look at each other and go, ah, because we love having them there.

Yeah. But it's funny. I remember my mother in law would come visit and she would be like, I'm just going to go lay down. And she would go upstairs and she was a very proper woman, you know? And I was like, Oh man, the kids, it's really that big a deal. And I'm like, God bless her that she even came down here.

Yeah, you're out of practice. It's a lot 

to 

get, 

you know, and you've met my family. They're all, I'm the shortest person in the family and I'm, you are five, six, I'm probably five, five now I'm shrinking. Right. But my son is six, four. So, and our house is not big. We live in a downtown Frederick. Yeah, 

it's great.

I love your house, your house. So when all 

five of us are in a room, it's a lot of  people. And they're all cowering over me and they're all, you know, and we're bumping into each other. And so it definitely feels like a crowd when everybody's home, especially now that I'm used to, to just the two of us taking, when all five are here to take up space plus an extra dog.

And, you know, cause Kate will bring her dog. So then we do have three dogs, but I love it. But I don't mind. the quiet now, like I thought I would. It's been a pretty, it was a fairly quick adjustment. I tell you what I miss the most though, not really the most, this is, that's not true. I shouldn't even joke, but you know, I, I would lean on them some for the business and like, I'm a little bit after this, we're doing this market in a couple of weeks and I'm short. 

Maggie, we're still living at home.  

Yeah, my, my whole family had to wash dishes. You know, they had to wash dishes and then my daughter's like, so, you know, are we getting paid for that? And I was like, Y 

Yeah. Of of course. Yeah. Eventually they, eventually they were onto me and I did have to pay them. But , 

yeah, eventually, eventually it just happens.

Yeah, I totally hear you. That's so funny. Alright, so because I, so the whole idea of the podcast is that I'm sitting in the kitchen. Across my kitchen table, right? Cause I'm Empty Nest Kitchen and all that. So tell me what is, cause I have done a class with you and your family and we had so much fun. It was a great time.

It 

was terrific. Oh, that was the best. That was, it was, I did it for Jim's birthday, I think. Right. It was at Christmas. But I, and his birthday is the 23rd. I think it was his birthday. It was on the 23rd. So it was for his birthday. That was one of the best birthday presents we ever got him. Cause it was such a fun day.

We had so much fun. Everybody enjoyed it. And then we had amazing food to eat. Like, it was the best. I was so glad we did it. It was wonderful. So. I wasn't even fishing for I still have your baking pan in my kitchen, by the way. Oh, I forgot all about that.  

And I got a million of them. Um, it's, I will say this, I am really good at what I do, just like you are.

Like, you're so good at what you do. And when you get into a kitchen, because I don't do a ton of on site classes anymore, right? Because I'm tired. It's a lot of schlepping. But you live half a mile from me, so it was easy, and your family's so nice and, you know, helpful and all of that. But when you get in there, and you are  part of a family thing, and you're doing that, it is just so much fun.

It is, like, it's such a treat to be in on that, you know, to be in on this really special occasion. And sometimes you have to walk a line between how involved you're going to be and, you know, because you want to be super respectful of what they're looking for. And your family was just so welcoming that it was, it was just a great time.

Yeah. You know what I 

mean? It was so fun. So fun. It was. It was. All right. So tell me, if you're going out to dinner,  what are you eating?  Oh gosh.  And I can make it general and say what type 

of food. I mean, we love like pretty much everything. So, um, I mean, Irish pub food, Bushwaller, shout out to Bushwaller's and Frederick.

We're there. Shout out. Once we go every Monday for trivia and their food is, um, it's don't tell everybody because then it'll be, but they, they are like the best. But I actually, I love Irish pub food. And they're, they are really good. It's not, it's good pub food,  sort of elevated, but not, it's not like bougie. 

Like they make their own dressings from scratch at a, their ranch dressing is.  It's so good.  I get the bangers and mash. Yeah, yeah. I get bangers and mash every time. Um, so that's a pretty, pretty, uh, regular standby for us. We like Cuban. We love the Cuban restaurant downtown. Um, I love sushi, but Jim doesn't.

So when the kids come home, we go for sushi. Cause then I have somebody who will eat sushi for me. But we're, we're pretty, pretty regular. Big fans of almost any kind of food. So there's, it's hard to pick a favorite cause we love it all. I love to hear 

it. I love to hear it. Um, and I love you. I'm so grateful cause I know you're going into this busy holiday season, Halloween's coming, all the good stuff.

So Mindy at Vintage MC in downtown Frederick, Maryland, if anybody wants to find you, where can they 

find 

you? 

So the easiest thing is to go to my website, which is vintage hyphen mc. com. And all my social media links are on there. Um, follow me on Instagram. That's where kind of the, the, the biggest, the most amount of news goes there.

And you'll see new things when they're coming in, activities when it's happening. And then we are located right on Patrick Street, 24 East Patrick Street, uh, in the main block there of Downtown Frederick, right in front of the parking garage. So just be Park in the Carroll Street or the, uh, Carroll Creek parking garage.

And you're right behind my store when you come out. So 

love 

that open every day,  seven 

days a week, all the time, all the time. Well, and I'm going to link to all of Mindy's awesome stuff in the show notes. And when I post this on social, I'll link to it there. So you guys will be able to easily find Mindy and the shop.

Uh, thank you so much. 

Thanks for having me. This was terrific. It was so fun to catch up with you and great chat and I appreciate it. It's easy to do, right? Yes, it was fun. Painless, absolutely painless. 

Absolutely painless. And all of you cool Empty Nest ladies out there, I'm always looking for you to come.

It is painless and wonderful and, uh, delighted to have you. So Mindy, thank you so much. And everyone else, as always, I will see you in the  📍 kitchen.