Life lately

Sarah’s fixing up patio furniture and Abby is loving her kids’ pediatrician.

Reading Lately

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Sarah read The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Abby discovered a new favorite author–Talia Hibbert–when she listened to Get a Life Chloe Brown.

Our outdoor spaces

We share our aspirations for our outdoor spaces alongside the reality of their current state. Let us know your favorite/least favorite yard work task so we can celebrate/commiserate with you.

Eating lately

Abby’s family enjoyed summer bowls featuring this BBQ tofu and Sarah found a new way to cook lentils.

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

Abby did an internet deep dive into chickens. And spoiler–chickens are arriving at her house next week!

Sarah’s daydreaming about future home renovations.

Reading lately

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Abby read A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn, the first novel in the Veronica Speedwell mystery series while Sarah read Erin Morgenstern’s latest novel, The Starless Sea.

Music

We reflect back on music in our lives growing up, our musical aspirations, instruments we’ve played or hope to someday (can you guess which one of us considered taking up the sousaphone?), and the songs we love to listen to on repeat. Links to things we mentioned in the show:

• Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen
• Dear Theodosia from Hamilton
• Stand by Me by Ben E King
• Hey Delilah by the Plain White Tees
• Into the Woods
• Hamilton
• The Last Five Years
• Wicked

Eating lately

Sarah made homemade french onion dip following Alton Brown’s tutorial. Abby made banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

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

Sarah has been playing a lot of Boggle With Friends on her phone, and Abby is doing all the gardening.

Reading Lately

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Sarah read The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary and Abby read the Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore.

2020 so far

There have been quite a few things we didn’t expect in the first half of 2020. We reflect on those, as well as on the intentions that we set in December and how they’re guiding us in this pandemic and election year.

If you want to take part in the movement to dismantle white supremacy and systemic racism, we recommend donating to:

• National Bail Out
• Black Mamas Matter
• Find your local bail fund in this directory or donate to multiple bail funds at once here
• Crooked Media has compiled a list of organizations fighting for racial justice and made it easy to donate to them as a group

Eating lately

Abby enjoyed pastitsio made by her mom, and Sarah and her family tried out this cold peanut noodle salad from Budget Bytes.

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

Abby is loving her houseplants and Sarah is connecting with friends the old fashioned way–through phone calls.

Reading Lately

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Abby read the Right Swipe by Alisha Rai and Sarah read Chanel Miller’s memoir, Know My Name.

What’s getting us through

With stay-at-home orders and social distancing we have had more time at home than ever before. We share some of our favorite things that are bringing us joy and helping us through this unprecedented time. Here are the links to things we mentioned in the show:

• Home Cooking podcast
• Pod Save America
• Gourmet Makes
• Call of the Midwife
• Dance Moms
• Schitt’s Creek
• Cosmic Kids Yoga
• Sesame Street
• Magic School Bus
• OK Go
• Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
• Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
• Well Met by Jenn DeLuca
• Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran and Barbara Cooney (and here on YouTube)
• Baby Present by Rachel Neumann
• Barbara’s cheese puffs
• Dots pretzels (now available in many Kroger stores!)
• Orange Theory at home workouts
• Kindred Bravely Angelina nightgown
• Prisms
• Drawful
• Alphabet Go Fish
• Boggle

Eating lately

Sarah is reveling in throwing together easy sides for dinner, while Abby discovered an improvement to her favorite key lime pie: a ritz cracker crust.

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

Abby shares about Storytime Durham with Amy Godfrey, which she affectionately refers to as Plum’s new preschool.

Sarah’s family made a fire pit in the backyard and have been enjoying “Friday fires” together.

Reading lately

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Abby read No Apparent Distress: A Doctor’s Coming of Age on the Front Lines of American Medicine by Rachel Pearson and Sarah read Ann Patchett’s latest novel, The Dutch House.

Laundry and dishes

We review our laundry and dishes routines, product recommendations, what’s working, and what’s not. Links mentioned in the show:

• Planet 2x liquid laundry detergent
• Dropps pods for laundry and dishwasher
• Skoy scrubs
• Oxyclean spray stain remover
• Blue Dawn dish soap (for grease stains)
• If You Care sponge cloths

Eating lately

Sarah and her kids have been enjoying the ease of making Rice Krispies Treats together. Abby found an easy and delicious recipe for bean burritos.

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

Sarah upped her laundry game by investing in some new clothespins, and Abby is taking a daily walk and loving it.

Reading Lately

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Sarah read Such a Fun Age, fiction that takes a hard look at racism and whie supremacy, by Kiley Reid. Abby read the historical fantasy novel The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.

Food in the time of COVID-19

The pandemic has changed a lot about how we shop for food and plan meals. We discuss what those changes look like, as well as the snacks we’re enjoying and the things we might want to take forward after things settle.

And we come at this topic from a place of privilege. If, like us, you’re doing okay with food, check out Feeding America for ways to help others who are experiencing food insecurity.

Eating lately

Abby made a family favorite bean salad, and Sarah has been enjoying Instant Pot cheesecakes, particularly this key lime recipe.

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

Sarah is using Epic to read with her kids while the library is closed, and Abby has been pulling a lot of weeds.

Reading Lately

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Sarah read Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. Abby finished all the books in the Brothers Sinister series by Courtney Milan. The Countess Conspiracy was her favorite.

Parenting wins and fails

We all have things we’re proud of and things we’re not when it comes to parenting. We share some of our wins and fails, and we’d love to hear yours—parenting or otherwise.

Eating Lately

Abby fancied up some instant ramen with veggies and soft-boiled eggs, and Sarah is loving fruit and yogurt smoothies.

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

Pepper has reached a new milestone: walking!

HP is entertaining both himself and E with homemade arcade games, inspired by this video.

Reading lately

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Abby read Dietland by Sarai Walker and Sarah read Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Improving ourselves

We discuss what we think of the self-improvement industry generally, our favorite self-help books and resources, and what does not work for us when trying to make changes. Here are the links we mentioned in the show:

• Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
• Dear Sugars podcast
• Glennon Doyle and her memoirs (Carry On, Warrior; Love Warrior; and Untamed)
• Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston
• The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
• You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap) by Tammy Strobel
• Frugalwoods blog and Meet the Frugalwoods by Elizabeth Willard Thames
• The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
• Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative and Productive Self by Manoush Zomorodi
• Gretchen Rubin’s podcast Happier and her books (The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, and Better Than Before)
• Deep Work and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
• By the Book podcast
• Habitbull app
• Calm app
• Pedometer

Eating lately

Sarah made hot fudge sauce and Abby is enjoying cabbage cooked in the Instant Pot.

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

Sarah enjoyed more structured workouts through the winter and Abby went on a family hiking adventure.

Reading lately

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Sarah read the thriller Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison and Abby listened to Jonathan Van Ness’s memoir Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love.

How we make decisions

We discuss whether making decisions is generally easy or hard for us, analyze our results from this quiz, share decision making strategies, and think back on memorable past decisions.

Eating lately

We share the food highlights of Sarah’s birthday celebration weekend.

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!

Reading lately

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Sarah read (and loved) The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay and Abby finished the second book of a young adult series, The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord.

How we’re doing in the time of COVID-19

We wanted to check in with each other and listeners to see how everyone is doing two weeks into being at home. We talk about our mental state, how we’re coping, and resources for kids that we’ve found useful. Links we mentioned in this episode:

• Gourmet Makes
• Schitt’s Creek
• Audio books through Libby and Hoopla
• The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
• Storytime Durham
• Wonderlab Science Museum
• Sparkle Stories
• Art/Lab at Home with Ms. Kady

We are thinking of you all and hoping you are staying safe and well in this uncertain time.

Eating lately

Abby stocked up on her favorite granola and Sarah made this chocolate banana bread.

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!