The Rosie and Roula Show

156: Date Night Ideas with Unexpected Discoveries and Rosie's secret crush

• Roula Abou Haidar and Rosie Burrows

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This episode starts with an empty house: no kids, no interruptions, just us talking about what happens when you finally get 24 hours alone with your partner after years of chaos. For Roula, that meant champagne cocktails, a joint, and a trip down memory lane watching old music videos. What came out of it? A surprising discovery about freedom, attraction, and how differently two people can see the same thing.

We also go off on a tangent about Rosie's secret crush on The Backstreet Boys and Roula's obsession with Cardi B’s court case - but, hey, you wouldn’t expect anything less from us.

Topics covered:

  • What happens when you finally get a kid-free night after years of parenting
  • Why watching old music videos can unlock deeper truths about freedom and desire
  • Crushes, 90s nostalgia, and questionable Backstreet Boys obsessions
  • Cardi B’s hilarious courtroom moments (and why she won her case)
  • Why “more time” as your kids get older is the biggest lie of parenting
  • When was the last time you had a moment alone that made you discover something new about yourself—or your partner?

Keywords: marriage after kids, parenting and relationships, rediscovering connection, nostalgia 90s music, freedom in relationships, Roula and Rosie podcast, Cardi B trial story, parenting teens, partner connection tips.

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Roula (00:00)
Rosie Rosie!

Rosie (00:01)
Roula, Roula!

Roula (00:05)
Okay, so hold on, let me tell you.

Tuesday and Wednesday, okay two days this week, my son went to camp, okay? And my daughter is not at home for one night. So my husband and I, and please listener let me know if you can relate to this too, now I notice that I didn't wear any makeup and not even mascara. I do have lipstick.

Rosie (00:11)
huh. Okay.

You look beautiful. You do.

Roula (00:41)
So this one night, like a whole 24 hours, for the first time my husband and I are.

completely alone since I don't know since maybe two years because we moved etc. And we in a way we just didn't know what to do we want to pack it with fun stuff but we want to also have time alone and it was crazy I'm all over the place this week because I moved all my appointments for next week and the week after to keep these days free.

Rosie (00:51)
Yeah!

Mm. Mm.

Roula (01:18)
And we really had a great time. The bottom line is that we connected in a way that after knowing each other and being together for 12 years, we discovered something new that I didn't know about him and he didn't know about me.

Rosie (01:20)
good.

Wow! Okay, okay. Are you allowed to share? Can I know what it was? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Roula (01:39)
Yeah.

So we, okay, this is just in between for the people who likes to do that. In the evening, we didn't go to a restaurant. didn't waste our time on the stuff. Okay. But one of the things and one of the things we went out, et cetera, is that we had some champagne cocktail in our living room. Like we are ⁓ at a bar or something.

Rosie (02:06)
Yeah!

Roula (02:08)
⁓ And also, well, this is only for the Dutch listeners, but I'm not going to mention it because it's allowed in the Netherlands, but it's not allowed elsewhere.

Rosie (02:17)
Come on, just say it.

Roula (02:19)
We smoked a joint and we decided to watch video clips.

Rosie (02:22)
Mm-hmm.

What kind of video clips? ⁓ yeah.

Roula (02:28)
music video clips on YouTube.

And then we went down memory lane. So we were watching video clips from when we were growing up. And of course, we were in this mood, we're laughing our ass off because the way they're dancing, what they're wearing, the songs, it was just hilarious. We noticed things we never noticed before, probably because we were high.

Rosie (02:40)
Mm-hmm.

You

Roula (02:55)
I don't know if my kids would watch this episode actually I have to do it soon. No, they don't. And then when we were watching these video clips, so my husband was telling me that every time a video clip would come with girls dancing, you know, in the 90s, a lot of style, a of this kind of thing that the guy is singing and or rapping the girls are dancing. And then he said, oh,

Rosie (02:59)
Do they listen to the podcast? Yeah. And who cares?

Roula (03:24)
I like this girl so much. wanted to have a girlfriend like her. And then another video clip comes and tells me, yeah, this was also a nice girl. would be nice to have a girlfriend like that back then when he was younger. My gosh, I have to ask him if I'm allowed, actually, to talk about him on this episode. Because, my husband and I, ask each other's permission to mention each other when stuff like that. And then he asked me. ⁓

Rosie (03:34)
Yeah, yeah.

⁓

Yeah, I think it's

Roula (03:53)
Rula, okay, so you're not saying anything. which video clip attracts you? Which singer you would think, ⁓ that could have been a nice boyfriend. And that was none of them. None of them. What? It's like, yes, when I was watching video clips in the 90s, just out of the war, the civil war and all the war in Lebanon.

Rosie (04:20)
Hmm.

Roula (04:21)
I was rebuilding my life. Everyone's rebuilding their life. And every video clip I watched, I did not even care about the boys singing. I was focused on all the music video clips by women, by girls. Because what I was thinking watching these video clips, I want to be free like them. I want to have to be able to go out with my friends and sing and be on stage maybe, become a musician, travel.

Rosie (04:30)
you

Yeah

Wow.

meaningful is that? And two such different experiences.

Roula (04:52)
And really, in that moment...

Yes, two completely different experiences. And also, I knew this feeling. I never said it out loud, so it totally hits me that I'm so busy with this topic. I mean, you have the podcast, The Pursuit of Freedom, Rosie. And I'm thinking, ⁓ all my life I'm pursuing a kind of freedom that is for me.

Rosie (05:16)
Yeah. Yeah.

You're a freedom

seeker, yeah?

Roula (05:28)
It's crazy. It blew my mind that I'm. Yes, it's crazy. And he also he couldn't believe I'm telling him to see he was touched by the difference of our experiences. ⁓ I am five and a half years, years older than him. So maybe back then I was busy with other stuff than he was because he was much younger. Anyway.

Rosie (05:28)
Did that blow your mind a little bit? So not only did you learn about your husband, you actually learned about yourself.

different.

Maybe, maybe.

Roula (05:57)
This was an incredible, remarkable discovery that we made ⁓ by being alone after such a long time and do something that is unusual. Well, we always listen to music together, but this time was just very much talking.

Rosie (06:09)
sounds like you had so much fun. Right. You got high, you watched

music videos. Yeah. Yeah. I love that so much. Now, Roula promised to do really short, sharp episodes today because my internet connection's all over the place, but I want to share one thing that's not really related, kind of is, in the fact that music videos, right? When I was younger, guess who I had a crush on when I'd watch music videos?

The Backstreet

Roula (06:44)
What's with the backstreet boys that you had a crush on? Tell me more!

Rosie (06:48)
They just, you know,

the pretty blonde hair and just the dance moves. I thought that was so cool. Do I know their names? No. Did I know their names then? No. How shallow is that? I just thought they were really cool.

Roula (07:00)
but you had a crush on the Backseat Boys because you wanted to look like them or you wanted to have their dance moves or you wanted them to be your boyfriend.

Rosie (07:08)
I don't know.

No, probably not boyfriend. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe how they looked. I'll say, I think I had a crush on like JLo. She's really cool. She's just like, no, yeah, I like JLo. She seems like powerful and she's got this amazing body. And I also hear stories about what she's like and go, you sound like a shallow bitch, but the image she portrays, I like.

Roula (07:36)
Goodness, okay. This is talking about music also. I suddenly found myself following Looking for podcasts or information about the trial of Cardi B Did you hear about it? Okay. I'm gonna be very quick very short This episode is all over the place just like how I'm feeling but this is the fun part of it And I don't think anyone is waiting for us to talk about Cardi B But you didn't hear the story so I'm telling it to you and we're recording it

Rosie (07:39)
huh.

no. Sure you are.

Yeah.

Roula (08:05)
Cardi B was being sued for $24 million by a security lady who was taking pictures of her in a private moment of Cardi B. And Cardi B told her, I don't want you to take pictures of me. The woman had a big mouth. And that was in 2018. And Cardi B at that moment, she was pregnant, going to the clinic and didn't want anyone to know she's pregnant. Because, my dear listeners, if women become a famous

Rosie (08:20)
Mm-hmm.

Roula (08:34)
artist and she got pregnant her whole career is fucking gone so she didn't want anyone to know and this woman was filming her in front of a clinic where she's going to the doctor anyway she won the case but there are three parts in the the trial that stood up very funny ⁓ first the lawyer of the of the person suing her asked Cardi B didn't you shame my client that she's fat

Rosie (08:39)
Hmm.

Wow, yeah.

Roula (09:03)
She told him no, I didn't. I told her she was a bitch.

Rosie (09:10)
Love it.

Roula (09:10)
I

love this. I love it. And then he was asking her where she was going to the trial every day dressed up really nicely, et cetera, and every time different hairstyle. And then he asked her, so I don't know what he said in the right words, but it's in the meaning of. So how come every day you have a different kind of hair? One day is short, one day is long, one day is blonde, one day. And this in the trial. She was she was like very caught that in her.

Rosie (09:21)
Mmm.

Mm.

is wrong with this lawyer?

Roula (09:39)
These are wigs. Okay, I'm not American. I can't do the accent.

Rosie (09:44)
Yeah, no.

Roula (09:46)
And because this person said that that the Cardi B scratched her face and she had to do surgery, plastic surgery. There's nothing. Then the lawyer was asking Cardi B how long it takes to put her fake nails. If they break, it's like. was, it was. it was. think Cardi B was having so much fun. Anyway, this is Cardi B. We're closing off this episode. She won the trial.

Rosie (10:00)
What? This is a joke! What? Wow!

Yeah, that was a random aside. Sounds, yeah.

Sounds like it's a good thing she won it. Do you have a crush on her? okay. You just thought the story was funny. Okay. Well, I'm so glad you had a nice time with your husband. Is it something you'd like to do again?

Roula (10:16)
But she's an artist, music artist. I talk too much, Rosie. No, I don't have a crush on her. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, of course it's always on our planning. It's just we never managed to be alone at all.

Rosie (10:39)
Yeah.

Well hopefully it'll happen more now Liam's getting older.

Roula (10:44)
no. Okay. This is also side note. My dear listeners, if you have babies and you think you don't have time for yourself, for you and your partner, well, think twice because the older they get, the less time you have. Because when they are awake at night, you will be sleeping. When you are at home, they're all over the place all over the day. So the older they get, the less time you have for yourself. Teenagers do not sleep. Don't.

Rosie (10:54)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, they do. They do sleep. And the episode, whatever. Maybe we can debate this later. We'll discuss this later. See you later, everybody. Go have some fun. Get high and watch music videos.

Roula (11:15)
We're not going to go into parenting. After the parents have some end the episodes.

Bye!