A Few Things With Claire And Erica

Less running around to meetings, more running routines! If this ep had a mantra, that would be it.   Other running and running-adjacent content: the C25K app, our podcast ep with Coach Bennett, Edith Zimmerman’s Drawing Links newsletter, and Nikki Ogunnaike and Aminatou Sow on IG.   Some “things we’re over” further reading: A BBC article on air travel + the environment, a tweet about overscheduled days, and a NYT article about disability and virtual accommodations.    We want/need your thoughts at @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463! And, if you want more of our thoughts—on running and plenty more—come get ‘em at Secret Menu.   Try Right Wellness and CBN, the latest transformative hemp ingredient. Get 20% off with the code RIGHTFORYOU. Take Modern Fertility’s fertility test for $20 off when you use our link. Cozy up to American Giant’s Classic Full Zip Hoodie—15% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Has perfectionism jumped the shark? And how do we remember names when we start meeting new people again?! Clearly, we have a lot of questions (and some answers).   If you like this, you’ll probably really like Secret Menu.   A couple books that made us ponder perfectionism: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi, and Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu.   Related convos: our ambition ep, this episode of Jam Session, and the Wit & Delight posts here and here.   Come and get us at @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463!    Download the (free!) Zocdoc app and book that doctor’s appointment you’ve been putting off. Check out Right Wellness and CBN, the latest transformative hemp ingredient. Get 20% off with the code RIGHTFORYOU. Turn to Ana Luisa for sustainable and cool jewelry for Mother’s Day. Get 15% off with the code ATHINGORTWOMD. Tune into The Genius Recipe Tapes from Food52 wherever you get your podcasts. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

When we can all go out in the world again, will we be getting dressed up? And what will “dressed up” even mean?! Oh, do we have questions—and some answers—about re-entry fashion...and also about kombucha titan GT Dave.   A hot topic, apparently: GT Dave of GT’s Kombucha.   A few shoe lines that have us ready to set aside our Birkenstocks for a minute: Alepel, Kkerelé, and Emme Parsons.   If you’re ready to dabble in hard pants after some time away, Claire loves these AYR jeans.   The centerpiece of Erica’s spring/summer mood board: this Marni tulip-print matching set.   Let’s gush for a sec about the statement-y jewelry from Lizzie Fortunato’s fall collection.   Are we doing bold eye makeup? Like this Violette liquid shadow and Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner?   How are YOU gonna be dressing? Tell at @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463.    For a whole lot more from us, sign up for Secret Menu.   Check out Right Wellness and CBN, the latest transformative hemp ingredient. Get 20% off with

We’ve got Mateo Askaripour, author of the extremely buzzy novel Black Buck, with us today—and, hey, we also showed up with our best going-away gift ideas for a stellar boss who perhaps deserves a travel mug thingy emblazoned with his catchphrase.   Gifting Q: Boss going-away gift. Best boss I ever had. Mentor. Mid-fifties. Male. Already gave booze. Our thoughts: Leatherology modern round coaster set, custom Yeti bottle, knives from Opinel or Laguiole, Souda business card holder, or flowers (always).   You gotta read Mateo Askaripour’s debut novel Black Buck! Tell you what!   Sales books that got Mateo started: Jeffrey Gitomer’s The Little Red Book of Selling and Sales Bible.    Books Mateo would say are in conversation with his own: The Spook Who Sat by the Door by Sam Greenlee, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, and Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires.   We want your thoughts over at @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463. If you want more from us, sign up for Secret Menu.  

You know what’s a grab bag? An episode on nineties screensavers, long breakfasts, box cutters, and recipes we’re embarrassed to share. Join us!   Just a short film of 281 After Dark modules and a very timely tweet.   The tools we wear by: box cutters, measuring tapes (see also: this ep of Gee Thanks, Just Bought It), kitchen scales (the Joseph Joseph TriScale one specifically), dough scrapers, kitchen spiders, and fish spatulas.   Claire’s (embarrassing) buffalo chicken chowder, her favorite coconut yogurt Cocojune, and the bfast tacos she wants to try.   We welcome—cherish!—your feedback. Send it on over to @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463. Or leave us a review! OOH, and sign up for Secret Menu.   Gobble up Lesser Evil’s A++ snacks. 25% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Shop Ana Luisa for sustainable and v. cool jewelry, and get 10% off with the code ATHINGORTWO. Check out Right Wellness for the latest transformative hemp ingredient, CBN, and take 20% off with the cod

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but, well, we’re totally getting ahead of ourselves: Is anyone else a little clenchy about having social lives again...sometime soon? Another topic of discussion: the beauty products Erica has on rotation—top threes instead of HGs!—from sunscreens to deep conditioners.   “Late-Stage Pandemic Is Messing With Your Brain”—or ours, at least.   The energy we’re seeking: John Jannuzzi’s dance compilation videos.   Sunscreens: Coola Sun Silk Drops, EleVen by Venus Unrivaled Sun Serum (related: a must-see trophy room), and Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint.   Body moisturizers: Tata Harper Revitalizing Body Oil (related: this ep of The Glossy Beauty Podcast), Weleda Skin Food Body Butter, and classic ol’ coconut oil.   Deep conditioners: IGK Offline 3-Minute Hydration Hair Mask (a Harling Ross rec) and Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Strengthening Treatment Oil (while doing the Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask).   Nail things: the Bare Hands kit and Olive & June polishes (EC, CV, and SC) along

Perhaps you’ve noticed that we won’t shut up about romance novels? Well, this week we’re chatting it up with Talia Hibbert, one of our favorite writers of the genre, about telling diverse stories, shaping conversations about consent, and writing good sex. But first: Does Erica have too many coffee devices? You be the judge.   The coffeemakers in Erica’s rotation: Bodum French press, Nespresso Pixie (with Woken pods—but Nespresso ones are recyclable in NYC now. See also from the NYT on recycling legislation!), Gemini Espresso Maker (or a single-serving alt from GSI), and Copper Cow Coffee pour-overs.    DM, email, or call us!! At @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463.   We’re all about Talia Hibbert’s Brown Sisters trilogy: Get a Life, Chloe Brown (her first traditionally published book), Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. Here for more, more, more of her writing.     To dive into the conversation around the lack of representation in the romance-novel world: this NYT ar

What bras, tahini, and shaving cream do we swear by? WELL! You’ve come to the right place. Before we get into our Thingies winners: a discussion of the absolute insanity of sprinkles in 2021.    We want to hear from you! You can get us at @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463.   Some sprinkles context: a 2016 NYT funfetti article and the 2019 The Power of Sprinkles: A Cake Book by the Founder of Flour Shop.   Some sprinkles resources: Sweets Indeed Sprinklefetti (lightning bolts!), Supernatural (Field Day!), Fancy Sprinkles (Hey Jude—lolz!), Williams Sonoma Sprinkles, 1985, and Cakes by Kristi (Chips n' Guac Sprinkle Mix AND Poker Face) and Etsy just in general.    Round two Thingies winners!!! Negative Underwear non-wire bras (specifically in sieve mesh) and Chantelle underwire demi bras (read also: this rave from The Cut), Soom tahini (more on this podcast ep), Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody, RiseWell toothpaste, Gossamer CBD Dusk and Dawn (tune into this pod ep), Cremo shave cream, the

Something we’re quite sure of: what makes a good in-app workout instructor. Something we’re quite unsure about: what our thirties are meant to look like in this day ‘n age. Kayleen Schaefer has many, many thoughts on the latter. Tune in and then dig into her new book But You’re Still So Young (yes, incredible title).   The on-demand fitness instructors who leap over the ridiculously high bar we’ve set: Melissa Wood of Melissa Wood Health, Coach Chris Bennett of the Nike Run Club app (a previous podcast guest!), Adriene Mishler of Yoga with Adriene (see also: this NYT Mag profile and this Reductress post about Benji the dog), and Robin Arzon and Matty Maggiacomo of the Peloton app.   Read Kayleen Schaefer’s wonderful But You’re Still So Young! And if you haven’t already gobbled up Text Me When You Get Home, maybe it’s your next book-club pick?   A few of Kayleen’s “You May Also Like” recs: The New Better Off by Courtney E. Martin, Anne Helen Petersen’s Buzzfeed piece on burnout and her book Can’t Even, and Big

Breaking news: Erica is still not having kids—but she does have some fresh thoughts on the subject, especially as many of her pals tackle parenthood. And! If you’d like a shot before your chaser, let us tell you all about The Roommate, porny and praise-worthy.    Ooh, do we have so much more to share. If you want in on that, perhaps you’re interested in joining Secret Menu. If you need some STEAM, get yourself a copy of The Roommate by Rosie Dannan (and it’s spinoff The Intimacy Experiment, out in April).   Relevant having-kids eps of this very podcast: Our original “On Choosing—and Not Choosing—Motherhood” convo and Claire’s take on new mom life and motherhood, one year in.   The piece Erica wrote for Refinery29 about deciding not to have kids and the one Grace Atwood wrote for her site The Stripe.   The installment of Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study newsletter that we reference (so good in general, this newsletter).   Our DMs, inboxes, and voicemail boxes are open: @athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.

If you’re not already a devotee of Julia Turshen and her cookbooks—her latest, Simply Julia, is out next week!—well, consider this your initiation into the fan club. We’re talking with her about “healthy” and “comfort”—loaded food words, for certain!—and because we’re geniuses who knew this topic would make us hungry, we’re starting things off with a snack taste test.   Ready for our chip chat? We’re chomping on Annie Chun’s Seaweed Crisps Go-Chu-Jang (perhaps with this miso dip), Beanfields Vegan Cracklins Chile Limón (not to be confused with Snacklins), and Lesser Evil Power Curls Fiery Hot (see also: its Paleo Puff cousin).   Julia Turshen’s cookbooks—collect ‘em all: Simply Julia (her new hit), Small Victories, Now & Again, and Feed the Resistance. She’s also co-written gems like In Bibi’s Kitchen, with Hawa Hassan, and The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook, with Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez.   Dive into her Equity at the Table database project and her Keep Calm and Cook On podcast, too.   A few of Julia’s fav

What a pleasure it is to bring you all Dr. Ben Michaelis, who we think of as ⅓ management coach, ⅓ therapist, and ⅓ couples counselor (at least in our case). We’ve been seeing this guy—together!—for five-ish years, and he’s helped us to navigate much in our lives, professional and personal. Speaking of navigating, we’re kicking-off the episode by answering an age-old question: “What sort of thank-you gift do I get my snake-sitter?!”    Oooh, boy, did we get a good gifting request: “Thank you for your friend who fed your pet snake weekly for 6 weeks. They like Phish.” Here’s where we landed: Fishman Donut Round Jigsaw Puzzle, Island Bamboo spoon sets and salt cellars, Na Nin incense cones, Boy Smells Kush candle, Debbie Carlos Curl Pipe (from Tetra), Edie Parker Flower stash case, Areaware Snake Block, Lorien Stern snake wall-hanging ceramic or plush snake sculpture (or bucket hat or hoodie), Ferm Living Mr. Snake cushion or fruiticana snake, Chen Chen and Kai Williams serpent lighter keychain, and Willa Heart

What an educational ep: Erica teaches Claire about Craigslist scams, and Claire schools Erica on the wild, wild world of baby registries. (Can you want a leopard-print carrier and not an infant??)   You want more? We got more! It’s called Secret Menu, friends, and signing up will get access to Claire’s baby-registry, er, motherload.   That cashier’s check Craigslist scam!! Vox has an excellent explainer “Why Cashier’s Checks Are Part of So Many Online Scams," and there’s a WalletHub guide to various cashier’s check scams and where to report them.   Consider donating to organizations like the National Diaper Bank Network or National Birth Equity Collaborative if you have the resources to be very persnickety about your baby registry.   Baby chairs and other places to put little people: BabyBjörn Bouncer (and its design-y comp: Betón Baby Bouncer), Charlie Crane Levo Rocker, Askr & Embla Sleep Pod (a prettier Dock-a-Tot), and Boppy with a custom cover (related: My Brest Friend).   Sleeping solutions: The Sno

The two of us think and talk a lot about ~the state of media~, and we figured it was about time we discussed it with a genuine expert. Enter stage left: the thoughtful and incredibly incisive Delia Cai, who writes the newsletter we always open Deez Links (and is a growth and trends editor at BuzzFeed by day—so clearly she’s on top of all the things.) We also figured it was ‘bout time to discuss Claire’s experience with Whole30, at least as it relates to their insurrection content.   You can find the Whole30 insurrection statement right over here (the Jan. 7 post).   The BuzzFeed article titled “The Small-Town America I Love Is The One I See At Football Games” that first led Erica to Delia (shout-out Dunlap High School—go eagles!).   You gotta, gotta sign for Delia’s newsletter Deez Links if you care about media (or good TikToks) at all. An adjacent, relevant newsletter: Today in Tabs.   For more on Substack, dive into Clio Chang’s “The Substackerati” piece for CJR (and its discussion of Patrice Peck’s Coronav

To answer the question of many a comedy-club promoter in Times Square: Yes, we do love to laugh. And one sure-fire way to get us howling is reading anything written by R. Eric Thomas—or chatting with the man himself, turns out. But up first: some toddler funny business.   A few toddler-relevant pieces of content: Bunheads by Misty Copeland, PBS’s Remarkable Rabbits, and No-Drama Discipline by Daniel J Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson.   Please consume all the R. Eric Thomas you can! His memoir Here for It and the book he co-authored with Helena Andrews-Dyer about Maxine Waters, Reclaiming Her Time! His wonderful newsletter! All the past installments of his Elle.com column “Eric Reads the News!” (And stay tuned for much more, obviously.)   Some of Eric’s memorist icons: David Rakoff (Fraud specifically), David Sedaris (see also: this Hugh Hamrick profile), Samantha Irby, and John Paul Brammer and his forthcoming book Hola Papi.   What pop culture Eric’s consumed recently: Umbrella Academy, The Secret Lives of Chur

We are nothing if not (professional) enthusiasts, and we figured it was ‘bout time that we shared some products we think are best in category—from brow pencils to baby bouncers, dental floss to pasta. Join us for the Thingies! In the future, we hope our awards programming includes a red-carpet pre-show.   Give us that feedback—we know you have it. 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and/or @athingortwohq.    So many more recs available over at Secret Menu!    Welks!!!!! What Urban Dictionary and Mindy Kaling have to contribute.   The divisive Danny Meyer tweet about Häagen-Dazs vanilla. (Sir did write the book Setting the Table that we like a lot.)   The Grub Street bucatini shortage article by Rachel Handler—the sort of coverage HDVB deserves.   The inaugural Thingies winners!!! Hellman’s, Heinz, HDVB (duh, duh, duh). The Stutterheim raincoat. Dr. Tung’s Smart Floss. BabyBjörn bouncer. Marvy Uchida Le Pen. Uniqlo HeatTech (the regular and ultra-warm leggings, the turtlenecks). Sania’s Brow Bar pencil (a

Let’s talk about depression—how we feel when it comes on and how we deal. Let’s talk resources, from books to therapy platforms to IG follows, for anxiety, grief, bipolar disorder, and postpartum disorders. Let’s just talk about mental health more in general, right?   Secret Menu! It’s fun. See for yourself by subscribing over here.   The things that have warmed our hearts a smidge during all of our time at home: a remote-control light dimmer and a calamansi tree (see also: calamansi seltzer from Sanzo + cocktails from Zuzu).   Podcasts featuring two people talking that feel kinda like having company: Jam Session, Who? Weekly, Home Cooking, Bad on Paper, Still Processing, and Taking Hugh for Granted.   Not-new fiction that’s provided Erica with a genuine escape recently: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1948), Mrs. Bridge by Evan Connell (1955), Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979), and Heartburn by Nora Ephron (1983).   Mental-health resources! Some books: The Mindful Way Through Depression by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Let’s kick off 2021 with a true grab bag of an episode! Because who else will tell you allllll the things they’re making/eating with rice, why they’re fascinated by hospital go bag content, and how exactly they’ve been making money over the last year, all in one go??   New year, new thoughts to share? Hit us up at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and/or @athingortwohq.    Rice—it’s nice! Right now, we’re feeling sushi rice for everything, Chrissy Tiegen’s coconut rice, Vigo saffron yellow rice, and Samin Nosrat’s Persian-ish rice.   And 2020’s awards for most fascinating and entertaining hospital go bag reveals go to…@nelliediamond and @hannahbronfman!! Also: Here’s the vid that inspired Claire’s, which even has a sequel.    This Eberjey PJ jumpsuit (which we both love in just, like, regular life) is actually a worthy hospital go bag inclusion.    The affiliate networks we use (you know, if you run a business that’s thinking about these things!): ShopStyle Collective, RewardStyle, ShareASale, and Book

We’ve been following the career of Alisha Ramos since she was in college—so, um before she technically had a career. If you haven’t spotted her two businesses Girls’ Night In, a newsletter ‘n community for women who love to stay in, and Whiled, a line of cheery, artsy puzzles, everywhere you turn recently, then your pandemic experience has been very different from ours. But before we get into it all with her: Let us discuss how dumplings (the sweatpants of food?) became such a vibe.   DUMPLINGS. In handbag form from Simon Miller, Elleme, and Emily Levine. In cartoon form thanks to Wonton in a Million. As sculpture in porcelain by Stephanie H. Shih and felt by Dumpling Mart. As a light, an ornament, and, hey, a potsticker pipe.   Alisha Ramos is up to so very much—she’s the founder of Girls’ Night In and Whiled, and she’s a very committed Swiftie and gardener on IG.   Speaking of Swifties: a conspiracy rabbithole for you—feel free to search Swiftgron on Tumblr.   The still-very-relevant Stay Home, Take Care re

We’ve dedicated a helluva lot of our 2020 brain space to 1) the election and 2) romance novels. Who sits at the intersection of those two realms? American hero Stacey Abrams, who has written eight—eight!—of the latter under the name Selena Montgomery. We’re talking about one of them, Reckless, today. Another thing we’re getting into: books that aren’t technically for kids but that kids can take a lot from. A real page-turner of an ep!   Three adult books that influenced us growing up: Our Bodies, Ourselves,  Life’s 100 Photographs That Changed the World, and The Cake Bible.   Books we endorse having around the house for kids to have access to: Black Futures, Every Person in New York, The Macmillan Visual Dictionary, The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, Map: Exploring the World, The Man Behind the Maps, In the Company of Women, D C-T!, and Do It Yourself.    Do you need some Stacey Abrams / Selena Montgomery romance in your life? SURE YA DO. Read Reckless, its sequel Deception, and this very good recent