BONUS: Philosophy of Pedicures (ft. Jon Ekstrom, Jon of All Trades Podcast)

**Transcript Auto-Generated**

00:00:00:07 - 00:00:24:05
Matthew Krekeler
Welcome to Girl Dad Nation. In this bonus episode, we're talking painting piggies. That's right. We're heading to the nail salon. Jon Eckstrom of the Jon of All Trades podcast returns to convince me why every girl dad must try getting a pedicure with their daughters.

00:00:27:05 - 00:00:28:09
Jon Ekstrom
So, Jon, welcome back.

00:00:29:10 - 00:00:30:09
Jon Ekstrom
It's been too long.

00:00:31:09 - 00:00:54:06
Matthew Krekeler
It has. It's all. It's been, like 30 seconds. Yeah. But, yeah. So you came up with this great topic. So I wanted to ask you. I, I don't have experience with getting pedicures, but you're like, hey, that's something awesome that you can do with your daughters. So, yeah, tell me about how that first started.

00:00:55:02 - 00:01:18:06
Jon Ekstrom
Okay. So that's phenomenal. As, as we've discussed at length here, I love being a girl that it's fun. And I picked up a patch when I was in San Antonio recently, and it was just the skeleton rolling its eyes and it said hi roles for gender roles. Yeah. So as much as you can sort of bend people's perceptions of like, I'm clearly a dude.

00:01:18:06 - 00:01:19:21
Jon Ekstrom
I'm wearing a hat of a brewery.

00:01:20:07 - 00:01:22:02
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. You've got a nicer beard than me.

00:01:23:19 - 00:01:25:04
Jon Ekstrom
You have no beard? Yeah.

00:01:26:20 - 00:01:29:01
Matthew Krekeler
Just the scraggly, scraggly ness.

00:01:29:01 - 00:01:58:17
Jon Ekstrom
Okay. Just like a day or two. So. And, like, I clearly talk and, dude, speak. Like, I'm clearly like a dude, but I love, like, messing with people just. And my girls love it, too. So I currently have my toes painted because before we went on that trip, we all went to the nail bar and we all got our pigs painted, as my wife likes to say.

00:01:59:14 - 00:02:23:09
Jon Ekstrom
Now, this kind of started during the pandemic because we're all sitting around here, all bored. And so, you know, they would paint my fingernails and like, that was fun enough. And like and I'm certainly not opposed to that. It's it's fun. Like, you have some paint on your nails. It's fun to look at. And I have this one client who is the president of a bank, and he's like, from Nebraska.

00:02:23:09 - 00:02:44:09
Jon Ekstrom
He's this old conservative guy. But when we would record these podcast via Zoom, he would always ask to see my nails, to see if they were painted, because he's like, That's a girl that like, that's fun. And he's like, the last guy I would expect that from. And so I go, All right, this sort of abides one of my life philosophies, too, which is make bold choices and the universe will reward you for them.

00:02:45:09 - 00:03:06:09
Jon Ekstrom
So, yeah, when the pandemic ended, I go, I need you girls to paint my fingernails, the brightest shade of pink that you have, because I'm going to go see him face to face for the first time in. I don't know, a year and a half or something. And so I showed up. I had my suit on and sure enough, bright pink painted fingernails and loved it was phenomenal.

00:03:07:05 - 00:03:28:19
Jon Ekstrom
Now, here's the thing. Pedicures are even better because when you're getting your nails painted, you kind of have to have your your hands in this weird position. And it's kind of awkward. It's kind of uncomfortable. You're, like, a little too close to someone else's face. Yeah. When you're getting a pedicure, you're sitting in like this Kings throne, or I suppose in most cases, the Queen's throne.

00:03:28:19 - 00:03:48:15
Jon Ekstrom
It's like a heated massage chair. You got your feet up there, you put your feet in this warm bath, and then they go to work on you and they get your skin really nice. They take off all the dry skin, they clip your nails, they wrap your calves first. They rub your calves like they give you a calf massage.

00:03:49:05 - 00:03:49:17
Matthew Krekeler
Oh, wow.

00:03:50:04 - 00:03:53:23
Jon Ekstrom
Yeah. And that feels like when was the last time you had your calves massage, bro?

00:03:55:00 - 00:03:56:20
Matthew Krekeler
I think. Yeah, I don't think so.

00:03:57:07 - 00:04:07:16
Jon Ekstrom
It's underrated. Way underrated. Yeah. And so you're sitting there and then you put your feet up and I always get pain on them because as I said, make bold choices in the universe. Well.

00:04:08:00 - 00:04:08:09
Matthew Krekeler
Sure.

00:04:09:17 - 00:04:22:20
Jon Ekstrom
But you're sitting there with your girls. I'm usually there with my wife. It's me, my wife, my two girls. And then, you know, we'll usually order like a glass of wine. And so and the girls will get like.

00:04:22:21 - 00:04:24:08
Matthew Krekeler
This is full service. Yeah.

00:04:24:15 - 00:04:26:19
Jon Ekstrom
Oh, yeah, no, go, go do doing too.

00:04:26:19 - 00:04:28:10
Matthew Krekeler
They're doing drinks and stuff too. Yeah.

00:04:28:17 - 00:04:35:11
Jon Ekstrom
Oh, yeah. Like find yourself a good salon and make an afternoon out of it because like, what's more fun than having an outing with your girls.

00:04:36:00 - 00:04:38:14
Matthew Krekeler
Oh yeah. And they're going to remember that. They're going to. Oh, yeah.

00:04:39:01 - 00:04:58:01
Jon Ekstrom
And so and they're not going to end up marrying some, like, misogynist idiots like later because it's like, well, my dad like, wouldn't, wouldn't turn his nose up at this. But so I posted on Facebook at one point it was a couple of weeks ago. So the NFL playoffs were on and it's like, Oh, how did you spend your Saturday?

00:04:58:01 - 00:05:19:17
Jon Ekstrom
John and I go, Oh, you know, guy stuff watching, you know, watching NFL playoffs, having a glass of soft wank and, you know, getting a pedicure. That's so much love for that. And the girls like, I mean, they get they get pretty paint on their nails. You know, it's a fun outing with mom and dad. They get to get, like, an orange juice or like a, you know, like a sparkling water or something.

00:05:20:06 - 00:05:25:17
Jon Ekstrom
And, yeah, we just we have fun. It is phenomenal. I highly recommend it. How old's your oldest?

00:05:26:18 - 00:05:29:01
Matthew Krekeler
She's almost four. She'll be four in May.

00:05:29:11 - 00:05:30:20
Jon Ekstrom
Okay, so you're almost there?

00:05:31:01 - 00:05:39:23
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Like, I mean, she likes to do like she'll do her hair and. Yeah, she likes to take, like, do her nails and stuff.

00:05:40:18 - 00:05:53:06
Jon Ekstrom
Yeah, well, there you go. So, but part of the problem is they need to be a little bit taller because like the chairs tend to like, yeah, the distance from the seat to the foot bath is like, you know, there's distance there and they need to be tight enough to actually reach it.

00:05:53:23 - 00:05:58:13
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, my wife loves to go and she's taken the girls before, so I'm.

00:05:58:20 - 00:06:02:22
Jon Ekstrom
Tag along, man. Tag along.

00:06:02:22 - 00:06:06:10
Matthew Krekeler
Usually I'm like, then my wife, like, puts me on a studio, like, to do.

00:06:06:13 - 00:06:07:01
Jon Ekstrom
Yard work.

00:06:07:01 - 00:06:08:06
Matthew Krekeler
Or something, and I'm like, okay.

00:06:09:14 - 00:06:19:02
Jon Ekstrom
Well, you know what? Sometimes flip the script on her and be like, You know what, me and our oldest, we're going to go get Paddy's. You stick around to see how she likes that.

00:06:19:14 - 00:06:22:21
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. No, she deserves getting the pedicures for sure.

00:06:22:22 - 00:06:31:07
Jon Ekstrom
Yeah, but I'll advocate for this. Try it at least once, and I think. I think you'll dig it. It's a lot of fun.

00:06:32:10 - 00:06:54:23
Matthew Krekeler
All right. Did you get any negative feedback at all? Because, like, I got this warning from one of my guests. There's like certain dad Facebook groups that you can join and he's like, you know, you get the spectrum, like, especially online. Like if you post something online, you get people that are like the misogynistic. Yeah. People that are just like, yeah, like that.

00:06:54:23 - 00:07:04:02
Matthew Krekeler
Like, how dare you do that? Like, yeah, like you're being too feminine or whatever. Like, you know, you get, you get the whole spectrum.

00:07:04:02 - 00:07:25:11
Jon Ekstrom
I'll go back to the parts that I bought I roles for gender roles like if you're going to be an aggro dork about it, you can show yourself out of my life like I have no time or patients or interest in that. Like, we're all having fun here. We're not hurting anyone else. It's it's a fun way of spending an afternoon and if you take issue with that, that's not a me problem.

00:07:25:15 - 00:07:45:18
Jon Ekstrom
Like that's a new problem, right? So I know, I mean, people in my circle know me well enough and if, if they have negative thoughts about it, they keep it to themselves. I've had dads tell me, like, I don't like people touching my feet. I'm not going to go do that. And I go, That's fine. Like, here's the thing.

00:07:45:18 - 00:08:05:20
Jon Ekstrom
I'm not going to make you do anything. All I can tell you is that with the benefit of my experience, I have dug this every single time. It's been fun and it's been harmless. So I can't imagine the energy that you would have to have to be like, Hey, that you seemed like you were having a good time there and I don't care for that.

00:08:06:14 - 00:08:08:17
Jon Ekstrom
What is that like? No, thanks. Yeah.

00:08:09:14 - 00:08:35:04
Matthew Krekeler
I think that's great too, that you're modeling that confidence for your girls too, that it's like, Hey, you're doing something that you enjoy. You don't have to, like, justify it to anyone else. It's tough and yeah, to have that space where, you know, another guy on the podcast, his motto is, People be strong and try hard things, moments, and it's just like, yeah, you know, it might not be your thing.

00:08:35:04 - 00:09:01:19
Matthew Krekeler
You might not enjoy it. You might say, Yeah, it feels too uncomfortable, but just putting yourself out there and trying something I think is a great witness to your daughters especially. And it creates a space to do that. Like if Dad has the confidence, like, hey, I should be able to and if Dad's not going to take like any guff, yeah, any Garth was going to use a more explicit word, but from anyone, then it's like, Yeah, I don't have to listen to you.

00:09:01:19 - 00:09:05:23
Matthew Krekeler
These people are trying to put me down. So. Yeah, that's awesome.

00:09:06:11 - 00:09:28:14
Jon Ekstrom
Terrific. That's yes, that is, in my view, the best way of moving through the world, because you're going to get people who, for whatever reason and it's almost never about you. Right? I mean, like the fact that I'm getting a pedicure and you're taking issue with that, how is that my problem? Yeah. So, like, if you want to comment on that, I get I mean, feel free.

00:09:28:14 - 00:09:46:13
Jon Ekstrom
It's not going to be met warmly, though, and it's not going to make a nickel's worth of difference to the way I'm going to live my life either. So, yeah, I hadn't thought about the implications of that sort of posture, but I think you're dead on where it's like, Yeah, Dad's going to do what he wants to do and to hell with everyone else.

00:09:47:17 - 00:09:56:20
Matthew Krekeler
That's great. Well, yeah, well, I've never gotten a pedicure before, but, you know, just talking to you, I'm inspired. I might. I might make a daddy daughter date out of it. That's awesome.

00:09:57:05 - 00:10:06:17
Jon Ekstrom
Make it happen, dude. You'll love it. It'll be great. Get a nice glass of wine. Get your get your pigs painted all pretty and you'll have a delightful afternoon.

00:10:07:15 - 00:10:09:03
Matthew Krekeler
Cool. Thanks for the inspiration.

00:10:09:14 - 00:10:21:14
Jon Ekstrom
You bet. And that's what I do.

00:10:23:04 - 00:10:41:09
Matthew Krekeler
Thank you to Jon Ekstrom for sharing his philosophy of pedicures and being part of Girl Dad Nation. I think I now have to schedule a pedicure with my wife and daughters. Dads, is this something you've done? Would you give it a try? Leave a comment on social media or send me an email to girldadnationpodcast@gmail.com.

00:10:41:20 - 00:10:51:08
Matthew Krekeler
And if you haven't done so yet, hit that follow button. It means a lot to me. Thank you for listening. And in the words of my three year old daughter. See you later, crocodile.