A Few Things With Claire And Erica

We’re reminiscing about niche educational retail chains of our youth, making a case for pecans, and learning the rules of a hot girl walk (<< there are rules).   Our research on Zany Brainy (which now has a nostalgic merch project) revived our affection for Sanrio, Klutz, Creativity for Kids, and Brain Quest.    Enter the The Nature Company v. Natural Wonders discourse via this YouTube video. Also, Buzzfeed's got a zesty take on a bunch o’ bygone mall stores.    Onto pecans, the nut’s nut. For pies, we rec the recipe in Stars Desserts by Emily Luchetti…and the one on the back of the Karo corn syrup bottle. Also for your consideration: Food52’s flourless pecan cake, Smitten Kitchen’s peach and pecan sandy crumble, NYT Cooking wok-fried asparagus and walnuts (subbing pecans), and Claire’s breakfast combo of pecans + Cocojune yogurt + berries.    The hot girl walk comes to us via TikTok user Mia, @exactlyliketheothergirls. And walk, don’t run, to the ample NYT walking coverage: "The Next Walk You Tak

Judy Blume forever!! A rallying cry and also the name of an incredible doc we need you to watch. And, let’s talk Thingies with Sue Chan, a tastemaker’s tastemaker—if you’ll allow it—who has all the event-hosting and condiment intel you need over at Care of Chan.   Plz watch the documentary Judy Blume Forever! And dig into Forever…, and Wifey with us?    For all your *entertaining needs*, check out Sue’s site Care of Chan, which launches Thurs., April 27, with guides, interviews, and essays from chefs, florists, and producers to help us all feel more confident and comfortable with any sort of event-hosting we’re taking on.   Sue’s Thingies include condiments from The Japanese Pantry (specifically togarashi—also love us some Cabi and The Mala Market!), dried fruits from Yun Hai, masa from Masienda (their La Chicharra bowls, too), produce from Cookbook Los Angeles and the Hollywood Farmers' Market, a donabe from Toiro Kitchen, and custom stationery from Pettinaroli in Milan (for more gifting: Flamingo Est

This week’s grab bag includes clearing a path for love, the country-music equivalent of The Great British Bake Off, beige rice, and, ya know, lots more.    Are you watching My Kind of Country? Start with Dhruv Visvanath’s cover of “Ring of Fire."   Shout out to Chalo cowboy boots and this Brie Larson cover story for Harper’s Bazaar for styling inspo.    Sam Youkilis’s Instagram brought the topic of cutting citrus back to the podcast. See also: Priya Krishna and Connie Wang’s essays about cut fruit as a culturally Asian love language.    An idea: Joe Holder’s one-week-a-month reboot.    Cosigning a Jill Singers Thingie, The Rice Factory New York.   Liana Satenstein’s piece in Vogue about Donna Karan gave us the Y2k fashion we want to embrace.    Share your thoughts about today’s ep with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! For more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership. This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products an

If you’re a new listener curious about our ~lore~, you’re in luck! But before we discuss us, let’s talk about you and some of the Thingies you’ve been evangelizing about on Instagram.   Moisturizing agents recommended by listeners include Dior Creme Abricot, Olive & June Overnight Hand Treatment, Dr. Hauschka Lip Care Stick, Weleda Skin Food, Everyday Oil, Brazilian BumBum Cream, Ouai Body Creme, Tubby Todd, Summer Solace Tallow, Lucas’ Pawpaw Ointment, and tinted ChapStick. (Wait, sorry, did we know about custom ChapStick??)    Also you all shared beauty products we’d never heard of before, like Kate McLeod Sex Stone, Nicole Caroline Facial Ice Sphere Kit, Londontown Kur Illuminating Nail Concealer, and The Ordinary Brow Serum.    Earrings you can sleep in! From Maison Muri and Hey June. Also: clear earring backs for napping!!   What else are you obsessing over? Keyboard-cleaning goo like this stuff from Kikkerland, stain removers like Savon de Marseille and Grandma’s Spot Remover, and salad

This week, we’re covering pressing and important moments in culture (the Scandoval), products of innovation (seam rippers), gifting strategies, a revelatory cookbook all about leftovers, and a topic we can not let sit any longer: cute postage stamps.     If you’re new to the Vanderpump Rules Cinematic Universe, we highly suggest Sexy Unique Podcast as a viewing companion.    Message Monsters stamps by Elise Gravel, a children’s book author, are available on foreverstamps.net.   Museum Gel will secure breakables from gentle earthquakes (toddlers running around the house included).    To have your leftovers world rocked, we recommend The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z by Tamar Adler, which is a companion to Love An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace.   Do you have a gifting plan? Thoughts on the Scandoval? Share with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! For more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   This episode may conta

May we discuss manicures, messes, and the intersection between manicures and messes and the social pressure to present as *having it all together*? Let’s go.   On gel manicures: Uché Blackstock is going to keep getting them, and Claire is too—but now with Maniglovz to protect her hands from those UV lights (and with CND Shellac whenever she can).   For a one-coat at-home mani, Olive & June Cosmic, Pleasing Pearly Tops, and Dior Glow deliver a shimmery, sheer finish. A listener said Dazzle Dry is one of their Thingies, and multiple of y’all have called-out Londontown Kur Nail Concealer (<< the name!). For growth (and nail-biting-prevention), try Nailtiques. For setting yourself up for DIY success, arm yourself with  Olive & June dry drops and the brand’s clean up brush.    We have a lot of thoughts about mess, and so do some other people. Dig into For Scale’s “Exquisite Chaos” installment, "Girl Clutter" by Molly Soda, “What If You Just Didn’t Clean That Up?” by Kathryn Jezer-Morton for The Cu

Karla Welch, celeb stylist and co-founder of The Period Company, is here to talk Thingies, from life-changing books to an L.A. bagel worth a one-hour wait. Also, we dig into distraction…and deleting social-media accounts.    Re: the impact of social media on our societies, ourselves: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier (and Zach Baron’s GQ profile of Jaron), Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (and David Marchese's NYT Mag interview with Cal, and (what’s new?) Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.    Get your Karla Welch fix via her MasterClass on personal style and by shopping The Period Company, which now available at Walmart.   Karla’s Thingies include Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Marie Brown (which made us think about Saving Time by Jenny Odell), Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, her client Sarah Polley (see also: Sarah’s film Women Talking and her New Yorker profile), Rhode peptide lip treatment, the NYT Cooking app (follow this IG a

If you’ve been asking “Why aren’t more podcasts talking about Magic Mike’s Last Dance and Girl Scouts?” you’ve come to the right place. Shall we??   What do the critics have to say about Magic Mike? Here’s Shirley Li at The Atlantic, Emma Specter at Vogue, A.O. Scott at the NYT, Richard Brody at The New Yorker, Bob Mondello at NPR, and Kyle Smith at the Wall Street Journal.    Channing’s look right now! Specifically this Met Gala pic and this Variety cover! He and Zoë Kravitz share a stylist, Andrew Mukamal (who was featured on Kell on Earth—see also: this Interview interview with Kelly Cutrone).     If you’re into the business side of Magic Mike, check out WSJ’s story “For Magic Mike, Channing Tatum Looked for Strippers Moms Could Love.” As for Channing’s other creative projects: Sparkella, Born & Bred Vodka (more from BonApp), and the much-hyped romance novel he’s writing with Roxane Gay. (Unrelated but also totally related, Tessa Bailey’s reverse-harem romance Happenstance.)     Oh, Girl Sco

Our two new favorite terms and a bunch of thoughts on what to eat (such a conundrum, always, why?), coming at you on this week’s episode. Dig in!   Ok, food things: We’re big fans of the the Food52 Simply Genius cookbook (and Food52 Genius Desserts, too) by Kristen Miglore. To start, try the 5-minute tomato sauce from Heidi Swanson (which reminded Claire of this slightly more complicated sauce she had last summer) and Canal House’s chicken thighs.   Some other cooking wins: this polenta soup recipe from Christopher Kimball, oven-fried artichokes, Ali Slagle’s cheesy white bean tomato bake, and Toro Bravo's radicchio salad with manchego vinaigrette.     This Eater story by Jaya Saxena speaks to our love of tiny spoons and brought this amazing T-shirt to our attention.   Let us know your tiny spoon stance at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.  This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertis

This week, we’re talking Thingies with Rachel Seville Tashjian Wise, fashion news director at Harper's Bazaar and creator of the coolest invite-only newsletter on the block, Opulent Tips. Also, we bring you more CRINGE.   To ride the cringe wave, check out this perfect Julie Houts post, Yasi Salek and the podcast Bandsplain (friends, the T-shirt), and the newsletter Club Leftist Tennis’s installment “Tennis is for Weirdos” by Kate Wagner. Also, NYT’s misread of cringe.   Rachel’s Thingies: hats (including ones from The Hat Shop, Amy Downs, and Gigi Burris), collections of strange objects (see also: Leanne Ford’s Feel Free mag), the weird Hitchcock movies like Vertigo (for more good blond wigs: Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express), designers who are creating wardrobes (including Toteme, Casey Casey, The Row, Sofie D'Hoore, Lauren Manoogian, 7115 by Szeki, Lafayette 148—read Rachel’s story for more on this!), and this profile of Judith Thurman along with her book, Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller.   S

Hello, this is she! Today we’re reaching into a grab bag filled with TVs, social omnivores, room dividers, and favorite internet follows.    For more on the social omnivore, check out this Bon Appétit article by Ali Francis.    Room dividers have come a long way—see: Lichen, The Inside, Sarah Ellison's for DWR, and Sight Unseen’s round up.   Delightful follow number one: Emily Sundberg and her newsletter Feed Me. She wrote "Whole Milk Mounts its Triumphant Comeback" and "Welcome to the Shoppy Shop" and recently surfaced this 2019 interview with Kevin Systrom by Stella Bugbee, too. (Related-ish newsletters: After School by Casey Lewis and Public Announcement c/o Chris Black and James Ellis.)   Number two: Delia Cai, whose debut novel Central Places is out now—*please* see also: her IG for the book, her Twitter account, and her interview on this pod. (Other v specific IG follows: @smallbizmemez and @dankartdirectormemes.)   Number three: the financial-literacy TikToker Seema Sheth aka Bobeema and her financ

Break out the headphones because have recommendations for those looking for audio-based catharsis, starring revenge songs and an insightful podcast about grief. Also: We’re redefining our relationship with restaurants and asking men to start paying more attention to the parenting discourse.   Some ideas for your next revenge playlist: “BZRP” by Shakira, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift, “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Gaslighter” by The Chicks, “Love Yourself” by Justin Beiber, “Cherry” by Harry Styles, “Irreplaceable” by Beyoncé, “You Oughta Know” by Alainis Morrisette, “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, “Kerosene” by Miranda Lambert, and “I Hope” by Gabby Barrett.    We also highly recommend you check out the discography of Beverly Glenn-Copeland.    More for your ears: Anderson Cooper’s podcast All There Is. Start with the "Anticipatory Grief" and "Molly Shannon’s Unspeakable Loss" episodes.    If you’re in NYC and looking to redefine your restaurant experience, try Gjelina f

We have some follow-ups, ok?? Let’s revisit induction stoves, slipping rib syndrome, living with longing, being in touch with your younger self, and, of course, jibbitz—specifically ones featuring a grandpa’s face.    Oooh, has that induction cooktop convo heated up! Read this from the Public Interest Research Group on the Inflation Reduction Act (and $$$), this Bloomberg article “US Safety Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears,” an installment of Michael Thomas’s Distilled newsletter “I Measured the Pollution From My Gas Stove. It Was Bad,” Alison Roman’s Twitter AMA, and Remodelista’s guide to compact induction cooktops/ranges.    To learn more about zankha, Lina Mounzer's Twitter thread (and the related Reddit post).    Speaking of dishware, Heller Vignelli’s is back at MaMA Design Store! Read more about it here.   Kate’s Butter, a Thingies award winner, changed its packaging :( :( :( More on the flattening of design from a Business of Fashion op-ed by John Whelan "The Revolutio

We’re giving you the styling and Thingies scoop with our special guest Lakyn Carlton! Bonus scoop: the pros and cons of scooped-out foods.   Introducing the scooped-out pizza, ℅ Minnesota’s Hazelwood Food & Drink. And leave it to the New York Post to provide scooped-out bagel commentary in 2010 and 2016.   Get more Lakyn via her fantastic newsletter True Style and her virtual and in-person styling sessions.   Lakyn’s Thingies include Muddy Paw Coffee in L.A. for a dog-friendly coffee experience (and proximity to one of her go-to vintage shops, The Curatorial Department), her Bown of London robe (additional robe content: ones from Block Shop and Ulysses and the romance novel Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn), and a custom doormat from TheDoormatory on Etsy.   Share your take on pizza with salad and/or personal style at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! Try out a Secret Menu membership for more recommendations.   Do ecomm right with Shopify. Get a free 14-

Buckle in, listeners, because we’re diving head-first down the rabbit hole of *cringe*. What does cringe look like these days? How do we embrace it—the good kind? How do cut everyone (ourselves included) some cringe slack?   If you’re not getting our newsletter!   Today’s prompt: Nell Diamond’s repost of a tweet from @isabelunraveled. (For more on Nell, founder of Hill House Home, dip into these profiles from New York Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.)   The Justin Long post. Discuss!   For some cringe backstory: Kaitlyn Tiffany’s story “How Did We Get So ‘Cringe’?” for The Atlantic.   We had to revisit Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic—because avoiding cringe and chasing perfectionism are related…no? See also: Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel, David Brandon Geeting’s installment of the Perfectly Imperfect newsletter, and the edition of Kaelen Haworth’s Kael Mail newsletter about ins but no outs.    Check out Her Country by Marissa R. Moss. Among the themes: how Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, and Mickey Guy

We are rejuvenated-ish from our holiday breaks and are ready to fill you in on winter-wedding dress codes, the pegboard discourse, sexy high school, and, ope!, more Midwest updates.   Our discussion about wedding dress codes brings us back to Kayleen Schaefer’s story for The Cut “The Bride and Groom Formally Request That You Dress Up.” And for actual winter beach dressing, see this 2017 Vogue cover and Harrison Ford’s shorts with sweaters.    We loved this 2019 NYT story about how brand names become generic.      Re: pegboards, Julia Child’s is obv the ultimate, but for mini ones, look to Quark and Little Anana.    If you’re also disillusioned by movie trailers, read this Vox story by Alissa Wilkinson. (Also, we endorse She Said the movie…but She Said the book more.)   Next time you're in the Midwest, get kringle from O&H Danish Bakery or a *kringle single* from Racine Danish Kringles.   What foods are you sneaking into the movies? Let us know 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingort

This week’s conversation knows no bounds! We’ve got key limes, medical answers via TikTok, makeup-buying IRL, a photo-minded Instagram follow, induction stoves, and a solution to the silicone storage bags issue (because there is one).   Have you made Alison Roman’s take on key lime pie? It involves yogurt/sour cream, a win if you ask us. Related-ish: Leaked Recipes: The Cookbook: A Collection of Over 50 Recipes Found in the World's Biggest Email Leaks and the Stories Behind Them, Neiman Marcus’s “leaked” cookie recipe, and Bill Smith's Atlantic Beach Pie.   Um, medical updates, coming through! Thanks to @roseytimestwo for bringing slipping rib syndrome to our attention. Also: Our pitch for Capsule for your prescription needs still stands (and check out Alto Pharmacy if Capsule doesn’t serve your city).    Shopping in-person brought the impressive Westman Atelier Vital Skincare Complexion Drops into Erica’s life (paired with a brush from Vapour).   If you’re over storage bags soaking up the scent of your d

The holidays can be *hard*, and if you need some guidance on figuring out how to show up for the people in your life, Nora McInerny knows what she’s talking about. Fire up this rerun from 2021, and crack open her latest book, Bad Vibes Only, which makes for an excellent way to kick of a strong year of reading.   In case of emergency gifts for grown-ups: consumables (candles, condiments, beauty products!). For babies: Lewis swaddles and Sophies. For kids: Twee chalk, Sunprint Kits, and Omy coloring posters.   Dig into everything Nora McInerny puts out into the world, including the tremendous podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking and her books It's Okay to Laugh (Crying Is Cool Too), No Happy Endings, and Hot Young Widows Club (and created a Facebook grief support group of the same name).   The NYT piece on the sex educator Justine Ang Fonte and the platinum rule.   The Ring Theory, which we really buy into and talk about a lot!    A Kids Book about Empathy...that’s potentially useful for adults, too.   Frien

One of our most popular (winning??) episodes of 2021, coming at you!   The usefulness of the term bitch eating crackers (BEC) (for context: Someecards).   Celebrity memoirs as audiobooks: Inside Out by Demi Moore, Acid for the Children by Flea, and Yearbook by Seth Rogen (see also: this profile by Jonah Weiner for NYT Magazine). Next up: My Life So Far by Jane Fonda, Faithfull by Marianne Faithful,  The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. Oh, and: the podcast Celebrity Book Club with Steven & Lily. Also: Please read Open by Andre Agassi and J.R. Moehringer!   Important breaking news: There is now Spelling Bee merch.      Let’s hear Claire’s QVC pitch for the Pattern mist spray bottle!! Somewhat related: Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater...as a hair product?   Erica’s 11 a.m. tea go-to: Soul Chai. Another (slightly sweetened rec): Dona.   A workspace-changing Philips Hue light strip. You may also like: Gorilla mounting tape, Storage Theory Power Perch, and the Pretty Ha

Get ready for an extra-magical grab bag episode—partly because we’re recording in person! Its stars: a question we loved so much, our conflicted boots, gossiping about toddlers, an impassioned pitch for Farmer's Fridge, setting calendar alerts for topics of conversation, and the most revelatory jeans that have ever crossed our fitting-room doors.   Movie we’re itching to see: Women Talking (thanks for the pitch, Fran.) based on this Miriam Toews book.   The winter boots we have mixed feelings about…but wear the crap out of: Claire’s No.6 clog ones (covered by The New Yorker *and* The New York Times) and Erica’s Doc Marten zip chelsea style.   Should you find yourself in an airport: Eat Farmer's Fridge! Try the baja bowl, green goddess salad, or pineapple coconut chia pudding.   Dr. Harvey Karp’s Happiest Toddler on the Block, source of toddler gossip advice.   Anne Helen Petersen on calendar culture.   For some WOW-inducing jeans, check out Ganni’s Figni style (and perhaps watch the vid of how they work?).