Life lately

Sarah is contemplating what it means to live seasonally and how to approach winter with a positive attitude, as inspired by these two podcasts.

The tree is now up in Abby’s house, much to Plum’s delight. When she is not gazing in wonder at the Christmas lights, Plum is now practicing her new skills–pushing to a sit and army crawling.

Reading lately

Sarah’s needed a break from heavy books this week and did a reread of Veronica Roth’s Divergent.

Abby is working through Salt, a collection of poetry by Nayyirah Waheed, which she has found to be both powerful and challenging.

Christmas traditions

‘Tis the season! We start by reliving the traditions of our childhood, then on to college, the newlywed years, and end with the traditions we are creating for our own children.

And as promised, a link to the pallet tree at Sarah’s house.

Eating lately

Abby cooked a whole chicken in the Instant Pot. So easy and delicious.

Sarah discovered this recipe for roasted cabbage with bacon. The perfect way to use up the cabbage from her CSA!

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Life lately

We recorded on Thanksgiving weekend so we recapped our respective holidays. We both spent time with our in-laws–Abby in Nashville and Sarah at home.

Reading lately

Abby’s been reading the comic book Saga written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. It was just the right thing after post-election induced reading slump.

Sarah’s almost finished with The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel of Life of Pi fame. She’s not sure how she feels about it or the genre of magical realism in general. Listeners, please weigh in.

Books and reading

We are both avid readers and delve into what we like to read, how we read, book clubs, breaking out of reading slumps, and favorite books. Here are a list of all the books mentioned in this segment:

• Barbara Kingsolver’s books, including The Bean Trees, Prodigal Summer, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and The Lacuna
• The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• Ella Enchanted and The Two Princesses of Bamarre both by Gail Carson Levine
• Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Won’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Audio books we recommend:

• Flavia de Luce mysteries written by Alan Bradley and read by Jayne Entwistle, the first of which is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and read by Jim Dale
• Big Magic written and read by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eating lately

Abby’s been enjoying taco dip, perfect for the gluten-free gatherings of your life.

Sarah’s family plowed through a batch of homemade chex mix the day after Thanksgiving, which is becoming a family tradition.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, you can find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast or email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks so much for listening!