I heard communities. Thank you so much for listening. We love it when
people in Connecticut go viral for fun things on social media, and one lady
in our podcast studio did just that. So please welcome Aaron McMurray from I
Can't Get My Together, your Instagram, your TikTok, your social media.
Aaron, It's fantastic. We love you. Welcome, thank you. I'm
so excited to be here. So we can't say the full title of your
program, because this podcast interview is going to go both on air and on
social media. If it was just on social media, we could say the
full name of your show, which is I Can't Get My Together. However,
you can follow me on ICG, MST. That's right. And now
is that what you use for both TikTok Ian for Instagram, Yes, that's
TikTok and Instagram. On Facebook, it's I Can't get My Together kind of
you know the period where I is. I found you during COVID and I
have to say thank you to you because I had no idea you were from
Connecticut, and your brand of humor really got me through because I never had
a day off. I came into work every single day. I was alone,
you know, my husband was at home. But then I was here
and I was alone. There was a few of us here the garage.
I had the best parking spot ever. I never had a day off.
I still haven't really taken any time off, and I needed a release.
And I honestly, I don't think you even realize that you provided just humor
at the end of my stressful day. And I've shared you with so many
people here and they feel the same. You're whatever you want to call what
you do, which I don't even know how to label it. You made
me laugh and you made me feel bad so much. I hear that a
lot, which I think that's one of the reasons I'm keeping on, you
know, but I think that this, in this world of perfection, I'm
normalizing being normal, you know. I'm tired of keep it up with the
Joneses. So that's kind of how this came to be. I made fun
of myself one day with my mom's and they were sitting probably for three weeks,
next to the planters that they should go in, and so I made
fun of myself and I went viral on TikTok, and then I made fun
of myself again on Instagram, and here we are and you're beautiful. You're
a family woman, you know, married with kids. How have they re
been with all of this? Well, no one thinks I'm cool. I
have two teenage boys. No one thinks I'm cool, which is okay.
Maybe the younger one, maybe his friends think I'm cooler than he thinks.
But you know, they're having fun. I think going along for the ride
because this could maybe turn into something bigger one day. So we're excited.
We are. You even have a peril and you have your your classic wine
glass which I absolutely love, and you brought us here today. You can
go to my community access dot com and check it out there. And again
it's I can't get my together. We're not, I told her. I'm
like, I can't have time to edit out all of this, so we're
just gonna you know, you can figure it out from there. But tell
me your story and tell me how this came to because a lot of people
were in your position during the pandemic. You pivot adjust. I hate I
absolutely hate that phrase pivot and edges. I hate saying it, but we
all had to do that. So wherever your comfort level is, tell me
how you got to the point of going viral. Well, I am an
event planner by trade, and when the pandemic hit, there were no events
anymore. So in the midst of that, we were kind of reinventing ourselves
at our company and I was helping a friend actually on a weekend, moved
from one home to another and I was lift. I lifted a coffee table,
went backwards down a stairway the wrong way, Oh my gosh, and
ripped my hamstring off. My story, this is like a final destination mode.
Yeah, I feel like my threshold of pain is like a thirty because
I could handle that. Like, I don't know if I needed the epidural,
but the boys right that I could have used an epidural. It was
very painful. I had surgery and then I couldn't sit. So I took
a leave of absence from where I was and it kind of gave me a
chance to step away and think about my life because I am a kind of
midlife crisis. I guess midlife crisis mode. I started redesigning furniture. I
left my job, started redesigning furniture. I became a fitness coach, and
then as I was networking with friends on all were that was the talk how
can we reinvent to ourselves during this pandemic? Because it was so sad people
losing their jobs left and right, But it did give you the chance to
rise up. And so I started videotaping silly video and here I am talking
to you, which is amazing, you know, and I love that.
Now you're kind of a face for other organizations. I so you do a
fundraiser and now people kind of depend on you for content, and so you've
got to weave that into your day job and to do all of this,
and you know, maybe even some brand sponsorship. And it's just you never
know what's going to affect the algorithm of social media, right You never know
what it's going to be. But you had something that everyone could resonate with,
which is, you know, one of your your skits or real life
bits, which I tend to believe they're actual things, they're actually not.
Like that could be a good video right right, you know, but your
plastic cutting board once is just so relatable because I have three that really should
be thrown away. Thrown now, people listening right now? If you own
plastic cutting boards, you know, when their time is up, and we
continue to put them in the dishwasher or not wash them properly and use them
and go, oh, well, you know, but you brought it to
the forefront, you know. But tell me about you wake up in the
morning. You don't have anything planned? Is it just something that you see
when I say, I literally do these things and then I make a video.
That's kind of how I create. And it is kind of disruptive in
my work life because when it's time, it's time to film, or I'll
write a script and then do it later if I have things going on.
But that's kind of been the method to my madness. And I try not
to do a gazillion takes because those aren't They get unauthentic after a while,
and then sometimes I even ditch them. So yeah, it's been quite a
ride though. And I don't know if you know, but I've been approached
by a Hollywood screenwriter, Susan Bright Bill my Goods, and we have a
show in the works. She's developing a show. I literally cannot wait for
this. I don't know I can watch it. I don't know. If
you need a live TV audience, whatever you want. Interview I'll promote it,
But you are magnificent, and I don't think and I think the beauty
about you is that you don't realize it. And I think that's the gift
of a true talent or a true creative creative person is that sometimes you're just
doing what you think is, you know whatever. Like you, I think
it's funny, might ten more people might think it's funny, or two hundred
thousand or a million, I don't know. You know, they some videos
bomb and some do resonate, they really like. That's probably the one thing
I hear the most is I can really I want to be your best friend.
I want to be your neighbor, because it's it's literally a show at
my house. By I can get my life together and by way of my
business life, but my home life is a disaster. Although I try not
to forget my children. If they need to ride, right, that's well.
And I also love that you don't try to sugarcoat what you're You know,
house looks like if it hasn't been picked up or whatever. Like your
house is really what everyone's house is, except for the corner they clean for
social media. Right, So, right now I have a current and maybe
by the time this airs, it will still be where it's at, which
is nowhere. I have purchased in march containers to organize my shoes, and
they're still sitting in where they came in out of the rain. So it's
a problem. I seriously have a problem. But this is every like I've
I've missed the return window. It's not happening, but so now I actually
have to do it, so it might be a good girls night or something.
Now a day in the life of you, you know, with your
job and balancing your family life and things like that. Are you learning now
how to plug that into your social media persona as well? I try to
put on a little makeup before I go to the grocery store. Yes,
now, I'm What has been actually nice is that I don't get recognized.
And that's it's nice because you know, I didn't really know that this was
going to happen, and I didn't want it in a sense, you know,
I just wanted to be picked up by like Windex or something, and
you know, that's all I wanted to do. But now it's turned into
something much bigger and um and I do have a sense of you know,
I have to keep this going, not only because this is probably the biggest
opportunity of my life, but it makes a lot of people happy and and
I like to be funny and goof on myself, and so I hope that
it resonates with people. I really do talk a little bit about your day
job. So so the fitness coach, if you will tell me a little
bit about that. UM, I am a fitness accountability coach and so it's
online fitness program and I have probably it's a small clientele, probably seventy people
or something like that UM, and we do group fitness every month and it's
really they're very, very inspiring and so as much as they say I inspire
and motivate them, I mean it's like it comes back tenfolds. They're wonderful
and they're helping others. So when new people come in, they're kind of,
you know, bring them under their wing and kind of, you know,
encouraging. So it's been wonderful. So I have that currently. I
do have a furniture redesigne. I want to ask you about that. So
what does that means? You just take a chair and make it better?
I mean, I'm tell me try so because I got a couch that needs
help. Yes, well, I don't do au pholstery. Oh no,
sorry, I was going to learn, but then I was like, oh,
I don't have the patience for this. Painting is bad enough. But
I do custom pieces or I do I bring in furniture from an interior designer
that's doing work for someone. So I don't do my own furniture and then
sell it. I actually bring people's furniture in and redesign it. So if
it's an heirloom piece, you know, make it something. If it's Grandma's
piece and you don't want to get rid of it, well, then make
it something that you want to live with and because it can be reversed kind
of. So I do have that. But my main job during the day
is as an event planner, so I have my own event planning company.
Now I do contract work with corporations around the globe. So it's been pretty
fun and travel and I love to travel. Oh and that's great. And
then adding this to the mix, I mean, you know, and now,
where how did you come up with the concept of that door open?
Like, oh, hey, you know, like where did that even?
What inspired you? I think my fans did, because my first video that
went viral on TikTok was me sitting in front of my yellow door with my
yellow moms, making fun of myself and they're like, oh, you know,
I love that colored door. Which don't ask me what color the door
is because I can't find the paint so I have to color match it.
But I think that was, you know, the door started to become the
focal point of everything, and then people I said, oh, hey,
once I'm coming out the door, and then that stuck. So things just
keep sticking and it kind of gets old to me, but people seem to
like it, so it's a part of you. I'm trying to switch it
up, and you know those don't don't always bode well with people. But
um, and then the wine, of course the wine. Yeah. So
I have a merchandise store online at icgmst dot com and you can get all
of that apparel there as well as wine, glasses, hats, t shirts,
longsleeve shirts, hoodies, aprons, Christmas ornaments. Listen, tell you
something. This is the perfect gift to be real, to give your girlfriends,
to give your moms, to give to people who literally are just normal
human beings trying to get through the day without taking off as many people as
possible. That's that's how I live my life. I do the best I
can, yea. I try not to tick off too many people. I
think perfection is non existent, and people strut, you know, especially women.
So so one thing, it's kind of my disclaimer is I love Martha
Stewart, I love Juanna Gaines, I love I love what they do.
I think it's beautiful. It's just not going to happen in my house unless
their team comes over and does it for me. I'd love it. I
would love that, but it's not happening. So um, you know,
I'm not slighting them in the least, but more trying just to be myself.
And I think I resonate with so many people because it's exactly what everybody
else is doing. There are so many people it, you know, with
their Christmas trees still up, you know in May or June or August.
So I have a summer tree. It's I put some flowers on it,
throw some eggs on it at Easter, whatever you want. You know,
my decor for Easter is Eminem's Pastel, Eminem's. I want you all to
check out Aaron and her pages and also the apparel and if you want to
get any I know I'm going to be getting some gifts. So where can
we find you online to first and for us to order some of the apparel.
That's at I cg mst dot com. So it's the acronym for I
can't get my Together On Instagram, same iicg MST. Same on TikTok and
on Facebook, I'm at I can't get my Together with a period in there.
Yeah, you have to spell it all out, you got to sell
it all out. You'll find me, You'll find her, look at look
for the girl in front of the yellow door. Oh hey, oh hey.
And I love that you brought in actual glasses and wine. And at
the time of this recording, it is it may or may not be five
o'clock somewhere, but cheers, oh cheers, cheers. You are fantastic.
Thanks for being in I heart communities. Oh, thank you, thank you
for having me.