It Happened Over Lunch with Katherine Phifer

Katherine Phifer

It Happened Over Lunch is a reflective, artful podcast about the ideas, stories, and inner shifts that surface in the middle of real life… often between bites, conversations, and quiet moments of noticing. Part personal essay, part cultural lens, it’s a space for thoughtful women who love beauty, meaning, and becoming.

Episodes

  1. 6D AGO

    Artist Dates and Boston's Mapparium

    THE TABLE: Welcome back to It Happened Over Lunch! We took a short two week break while my family and I toured Italy (you can catch the highlights on my Instagram Highlights under “Italy.” (@katherinephifer) It was a lovely trip. We met my parents in Milan and then toured our way down the country. We ate well, saw some beautiful art, and nudged our way through Rome on Good Friday. SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: I heard about The Mapparium in a course I was taking in my undergraduate program. The professor said “whenever you go to Boston, you have to go here.” So, five months after I moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, after a long winter of being very cold, I found myself on an early May day taking an artist date to the Christian Science Plaza and The Mapparium. It was a magical day. The concept of artist dates comes from Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way. That winter I spent every morning writing morning pages. I was in the beginning stages of my Master’s degree and would take the occasional artist date scheduled around my classes. And I spent a lot of time reading books and listening to music. SOMETHING TRUE: I love the idea of scheduling a date with myself to wander an exhibit or a museum by myself. I haven’t done it in a long time.  THE THOUGHT I AM CARRYING: There’s something simple and magical about tapping into your thoughts and feelings every single day. THE CHECK: Inside today's episode I mention my Daily Three- a three part grounding practice to bring you back to your magic. You can get it here: https://katherinephifer.myflodesk.com/thedailythree2026

    31 min

  2. MAR 25

    My Alter Ego, Serafina Laurent

    Serafina Laurent is a vibe. She's well educated. Loves to talk about art and oracle cards. And on day she invokes power, wears red lipstick. THE TABLE: Welcome back to It Happened Over Lunch! Again today I am tuning in from my living room, waiting for storms to roll in and my children to return home. I had plans to go IKEA shopping with a Sicilian girlfriend of mine, but the weather thought differently. SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: I am in Gala Darling’s Planifesting Course for 2026 and in one of her recent YouTube videos she talked about creating an alter ego. I thought, what a great idea. Prior to this I had been feeling not fully myself, and an alter ego felt like the energy I needed to get out of my funk. And, Serafina Laurent was born. SOMETHING TRUE: Serafina Laurent is a clear woman. A cultivated woman. A woman of appetite for life. A woman who knows inspiration is found in books, kitchens, paintings, gardens, long conversations, sleep, sunlight, beauty, devotion, and being fully inside her own life. A woman who does not beg the algorithm for belonging. A woman who becomes more herself with time. THE THOUGHT I AM CARRYING: What if my alter ego is just an elevated, more turned on and more tuned up version of me?  What would it be like to get dressed in her energy everyday?  THE CHECK: After recording this podcast, I have a few housekeeping things to do and then later I will go up to the town square to pick Liam up from his ride home from baseball practice. A typical weekday evening in the Phifer household. If you'd love to receive these podcast shows directly to your inbox, subscribe to my SUBSTACK Channel.

    21 min

  3. MAR 18

    Frida & Me

    A twenty year relationship she knows nothing about. THE TABLE:  Welcome back to It Happened Over Lunch! Today I am tuning in from the living room of my houe in Sicily. Spring is creeping in. The weather is unpredicatble. Sicilans call March "Marzo pazzo"- "Crazy March." SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: I have been in a twenty plus year relationship with Frida Kahlo, and she knows nothing about it. After I graduated from college with a BFA, I went on to work at an art gallery in downtown Houston, Texas for about a year. During that time I did some internal work and discovered the pull to further my education, and careeer in art therapy. To be accepted into a Master's degree program I needed about a semester of psychology credits. I found myself in a Fall semester of a full line up of psychology classes, including a course called Psychology and Art. It was in that class that I began my relationship with the artist. But, it wasn't until quite recently that her art really got under my skin. Tony and I were in New York City for a quick getaway and we decided to spend an afternoon at the MOMA. Neither of us had been there, and we had always wanted to go.  Pollocks and Rothkos hung on the walls. Dorthea Lange's Migrant Mother. And, on a small column, a small two piece interactive work by Frida Kahlo, Fulang-Chang and I, 1939. See Fulang-Chang and I, 1939. SOMETHING TRUE: Frida had this beautiful ability to use her art to share her perspective of life and of the world. There's something brave about that. THE THOUGHT I AM CARRYING:  What if we all showed up more? Not online, but in life? Messy, raw, unfinished? THE CHECK: After recording this podcast, I have a few housekeeping things to do and then later I will go up to the town square to pick Liam up from his ride home from baseball practice. A typical weekday evening in the Phifer household. If you'd love to receive these podcast shows directly to your inbox, subscribe to my SUBSTACK Channel.

    25 min

  4. MAR 11

    The French Woman & Her Cigarette

    The French Woman is such a vibe. THE TABLE:  Welcome back to It Happened Over Lunch! Today I am tuning in from my bedroom in Trecastagni, Sicily. It's early March, the sun is shining and I am craving Spring. SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: Over the past decade I have been to Paris three times and I have fallen in love with it more every time we visit. There is something sparkly about it. There is something magnetic about it. I find myself coming alive inside art museums and bistros. I sleep with the window open and listen to the hum of the city. During the past two visits, we took about a week each and wandered the city. And, one thing I kept noticing during both trips... mid morning, in the crisp coolness of the weather, multiple French women, red lipstick, small espresso and smoking a cigarette. There was something alluring about it, even though I have never smoked, nor never intend to. SOMETHING TRUE: Often by early March, I find myself at odds with winter. The cold has become off putting. Soups are getting boring. And the chill in the air makes my bones hurt. I know there's a lesson I meet every winter about slowing down, allowing for rest, and being inside the fertile void... but I don't love it.  THE THOUGHT I AM CARRYING:  With a nod to the French Woman, there is something beautiful about taking a moment to just breathe during the day. Or multiple times a day. THE CHECK: After recording this episode I am working on the podcast, getting dinner together and picking the boys up at the town square after they have a long day of school and baseball practice.  If you'd love to receive these podcast shows directly to your inbox, subscribe to my SUBSTACK Channel.

    26 min

  5. MAR 3

    Ruth Bernhard, Holding On Loosely & What to Do While You Wait

    Welcome to episode ONE of It Happened Over Lunch!  THE TABLE:  Today I am tuning in from a small town on the slopes of Mt. Etna, Trecastagni, Sicily. Trecastagni is rich in history. Called The Three Chestnuts, Trecastagni's patron saints are St. Alfio and his two brothers. The mountain town looks more like a scene from Switzerland than Italy, however Sicilians are proud of the town's heritage and yearly festival that honors the three patron saints. People have received healing miracles from St. Alfio and to honor him and his brothers, carry large candle sticks from the ocean all the way up the mountain to the square on the fest days.  SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: Ruth Bernhard was an iconic photographer who is known predominately for her nude, black and white images of women. Born in 1905 in Berlin, Germany, she moved to the United States in her early twenties and began a detailed artist career in New York City. She spent most of her life in San Francisco, however she was well connected in the artist world. She spent the later part of her career teaching. She died in 2006. I was introduced to Ruth's work in my college years where I studied Studio Art and Photography. In each photography class we were assigned to do a slide show presentation of a well known photographer, and after finding her book in the TCU library, my first presentation was of Ruth Bernhard. Her work is absolutely stunning, but it is was the story of The Doorknob, 1975 that stuck with me. Listen to today's show to hear about the story and here is a link to view the image: Princeton Art Museum SOMETHING TRUE: Lately I have been receiving the nudge to "hold on loosely." Whether that's to plans or ideas or even parenting, holding on loosely is challenging.  THE THOUGHT I AM CARRYING:  It's in the waiting that you create the piece, have the realization, learn something new. THE CHECK: This afternoon I am doing a little cleaning to get ready for a coffee date at my house tomorrow with a girlfriend. We are going to chat and play with Oracle cards.

    27 min

  6. SEASON 1 TRAILER

    SEASON 1 TRAILER: It Happened Over Lunch

    It Happened Over Lunch is a reflective, story driven podcast about the moments that shape us when we least expect it… a conversation that shifts something, a work of art that won’t leave your mind, a realization that arrives while the world keeps moving.  Hosted by Katherine Phifer, this show gathers stories of art, encounter, and everyday revelation… the kind that happen not in grand gestures, but in the middle of ordinary days. The book mentioned in the show today: Circe by Madeline Miller  Stay connected on Substack at The Rosearium Papers with Katherine Phifer: https://substack.com/@katherinephifer

    10 min

Trailer

About

It Happened Over Lunch is a reflective, artful podcast about the ideas, stories, and inner shifts that surface in the middle of real life… often between bites, conversations, and quiet moments of noticing. Part personal essay, part cultural lens, it’s a space for thoughtful women who love beauty, meaning, and becoming.

Information