Life lately

Sarah’s family is currently showerless as they undergo a bathroom renovation.

Abby’s daughter started preschool this month. Her perspective on Plum’s new adventure reminded Sarah of this post by Jen Dary.

Reading lately

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Sarah read another Celeste Ng novel, this time her most recent one: Little Fires Everywhere. She cannot recommend it highly enough.

Abby finished The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion and found it to be a delightful romantic comedy in book format.

Cultivating creativity

Do you see yourself as a creative person? In this episode, find out which one of us identifies with that label, and hear more about our creative lives, how we prioritize creativity, and where we look for inspiration. (Hint: We both love Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic.)

Eating lately

Abby made saag/palak paneer in the Instant Pot and is loving the extra insert she got for Christmas.

Sarah enjoyed eating a shrimp and corn risotto (similar to this one), as made by her mom on a recent trip to Missouri.

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 recounts a recent social evening and Sarah is obsessed with Scandal.

Reading lately

Abby listened to Almost Sisters Joshilyn Jackson–a light read with depth.

Sarah read Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay, which was a powerful read about her experience living in a super-morbidly obese body and ways society responds to different types of bodies.

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New year’s intentions

We reflect back on 2017, how well our words for the year held up, what words we chose to guide us 2018.

Eating lately

Sarah dined on sushi from Sushi Kashiba on a recent trip to Seattle. While Abby devoured Christmas toffee.

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’s in-laws moved to Bloomington this month and Abby’s been scoring some great (free!) secondhand wins.

Reading Lately

Sarah read the NEA Big Read for the year: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. She was captivated by how Ng was able to concisely convey so much about the characters.

Abby listened to Mirna Valerio’s memoir A Beautiful Work in Progress. Valerio is a self-described “fat girl running” and shares her life competing in ultramarathons.

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Our Year in Books, 2017

As listeners know, we love to read. We reflect back on our reading life in 2017: what we read, what we loved, what surprised us, and how the podcast has illuminated our different reading styles and preferences. Here are our favorites from the year:

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Eating Lately

We’ve both been feeling a bit uninspired in the kitchen and turning to easier (lazier?) meals: black bean nachos for Abby and bean quesadillas for Sarah.

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!

This episode is sponsored by Audible. Our listeners can get a free audiobook and 30-day trial. Abby loves the audio version of Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and Sarah always comes back to The Royal We by Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks. If you need more suggestions of great audiobooks, check out our book recommendation page to see some our favorites.

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Life lately

Abby is excited to be part of a in-person book club for the first time in years, while Sarah shares a rant about book fairs.

Reading lately

Abby listened to John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down, a YA novel that tells the story of Aza, her anxiety, and her deep teenage thoughts.

Sarah (finally) finished the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, which is a dystopian series composed of four books–Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter–where each book reimagines a different fairy tale.

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Gift giving

‘Tis the season! We share our overarching gift-giving philosophy, how we budget, collect ideas, and shop for holiday gifts, how our families handle gifts for our kids, extended family, stockings, and Santa, and whether we find gift-giving joyful or stressful. We’d love to hear your thoughts on gift-giving and what works for your family.

Eating lately

Sarah and Abby both share casseroles–sausage for Abby, and green bean for Sarah. Here’s Sarah’s family’s recipe:

Green Bean Casserole

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp dehydrated minced onion flakes
• 8 oz sour cream
• 16-20 oz frozen French cut green beans
• 1 can French fried onion rings
• Swiss cheese slices

Melt butter over low heat. Add flour, salt, pepper, onion flakes, and sugar. Stir. Add sour cream and stir until smooth. Increase heat to medium and cook until sauce is bubbly and thick, stirring consantly. Remove from heat. mix sauce with beans and place in a large casserole dish. Layer cheese on top and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Spread onion rings over cheese and bake for five more minutes. Enjoy!

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 loved getting together with other families in her neighborhood for a potluck.

Abby is hoping listeners have suggestions for her elderly dog, Tonks, who is excited about eating.

Reading Lately

Sarah read Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It by Richard V. Reeves. For a more condensed version of the ideas check out his New York Times article Stop Pretending You’re Not Rich.

Abby listened to a classic: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Friendlier finances

Money—the perfect topic to discuss at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. Or if that doesn’t seem like it will go over well, just listen in to us talk about it! We share our philosophy around money, how we handle finances in our families, our money hangups, and our financial goals. For more inspiration, check out some of our favorite resources:

• Mr. Money Mustache blog
• Facebook group for lower-income Mustachians
• Frugalwoods blog
• Death, Sex, and Money podcast, especially the episodes related to student debt
• Mad FIentist podcast
• Matrimoney podcast
• The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber
• You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Money by Jen Sincero
• At Home in the World by Tsh Oxenreider (not exactly money related, but goal related as she shares her experience circumnavigating the globe for nine months with her husband and three kids)

Eating Lately

Abby’s been warming up with slow-cooked chili, courtesy of the Instant Pot (of course). Sarah’s been loving jarred sauces from Maya Kaimal.

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 excited that as of this episode we have been podcasting for a whole year! A special thank you to everyone listening for being part of it; we wouldn’t want to do it without you.

Sarah and Neil just got back from a kid-free trip to Arkansas where they hiked, caught up with old-friends, and marveled at being able to talk uninterrupted for hours at a time.

Reading lately

Abby read the New York Times article When the Revolution Came for Amy Cuddy. In an earlier episode Abby talked about Cuddy’s book Presence. Abby also liked this article about the research.

Sarah read The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein, as recommended by listener Misti. It is a YA mystery set in pre-WWII Scotland and the prequel to Code Name Verity.

Self-care

The craziness of the holidays is nearly upon us, so we thought it would be timely to think about how we care for ourselves, how we prioritize that time, and how our perspective on self-care has changed since becoming parents.

Eating lately

Sarah is warming up with Abby’s chicken noodle soup recipe while Abby is attempting to recreate her co-op’s chipotle pimento cheese 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!

Giveaway!

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway by October 31st!

Life Lately

Sarah’s family celebrated E’s third birthday–no more toddlers in her house! Abby and her family just got back from a weekend trip to Minnesota.

Sarah was recently on the Sarah R Bagley Podcast and the Cohesive Home podcast if you want to listen to her chatting about her new show, Family Pedals.

Reading Lately

Sarah finished The Nix by Nathan Hill, a contemporary fiction novel in the same vein as Jonathan Franzen or Jeffrey Eugenides’ work.

Abby listened to The Bassoon King: Art, Idiocy, and Other Sordid Tales from the Band Room, a memoir by Rainn Wilson, better known as Dwight from The Office.

Raising Readers

We discuss what our reading life was like growing up, what reading looks like with our kids these days, our favorite childhood books, and our hopes for our kids as they become readers.

Favorite resources for finding books:

• Raising Race Conscious Children
• A Mighty Girl

Favorite books from our childhoods:

• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
• Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner and Peggy Rathman
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Favorite books to read to our kids:

• Toddler
  • Indestructible books
  • Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems (loved by my preschoolers too!)
  • A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
  • Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagara
  • My Bus by Byron Barton
  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle
  • Mem Fox books, especially Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes and Where Is the Green Sheep?
  • Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers
  • Baby Present by Ericka McConnell and Rachel Neumann
  • I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont
  • No Bows by Shirley Smith Duke
  • Global Babies
  • Sandra Boynton books
  • Carnival of Cats by Charles Ghinga
•  Preschooler
  • Bear on a Bike by Stella Blackstone and Debbie Harter (and others in same series)
  • Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman (and others in same series)
  • Ladybug Girl books by David Soman and Jacky Davis
  • Building Our House by Jonathan Bean
  • Most People by Michael Leannah
  • Jan Brett books, especially in the winter
  • Who Has What? All About Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies by Robie Harris (also great ones by him about birth and reproduction)
• Kindergartner
  • The Twits by Roald Dahl

Eating Lately

Abby enjoyed a German Potato salad made by her neighbor for Oktoberfest and Sarah attempted sauerkraut guided by the book Wild Fermentation.

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!

As a way to thank our listeners and celebrate our first YEAR of podcasting, we are giving away an Instant Pot!

To enter, leave a comment on this post with:
1) Your favorite Friendlier episode,
2) A topic you’d like us to discuss in a future episode, and
3) A book or recipe suggestion for us to try.

We’ll close comments October 31, 2017, and then we’ll draw a random winner. Double check that you enter your email correctly when you make a comment, so that we can get in touch with you. If we don’t hear from you within a week, we’ll draw another name. This giveaway is open to US residents only, but don’t lose heart international listeners, we hope to include you in future giveaways.

Good luck and THANK YOU for a wonderful year!

Update, November 1, 2017: We so appreciate all of your entries/suggestions! Congratulations to our winner, Kt!

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Life Lately

Abby and Plum have been riding (and loving) the city bus. Sarah shares the details of her broken vacuum situation.

Reading Lately

Abby is on the fourth book of the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, which are mysteries set in a Canadian small town.

Sarah is on a self-help kick and recommends Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. He also has a TED talk with some of his reasons for not being on social media.

Secondhand Wins

We geek out about the joy and satisfaction that comes from finding what we need, used. We share our history with secondhand shopping, our strategies and go-to places for finding deals, and our favorite secondhand wins.

Eating Lately

Sarah made an apple tart for a recent potluck and Abby discovered a new way to eat bok choy–in a chopped salad.

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!

This episode is part of a conversational #podroundup. Four other podcasts are releasing an episode this week on the same topic—community. Scroll to the bottom of this post to read more about the participating shows to find a new, great listen.

Life Lately

Sarah is enjoying taking walks for exercise and Abby is loving her shorter haircut.

Reading Lately

Sarah read Hum If You Don’t Know the Words by Bianca Marais, a novel set in South Africa during and in the year following the Soweto Uprisings. She enjoyed it, but couldn’t help wondering what Roxanne Gay would think about the way people of color were portrayed.

Abby read the Queen of the Tearling trilogy by Erika Johansen. It is an engaging dystopian fantasy series that features complicated characters and its fair share of violence.

Community

We explore what communities mean to us, what communities we are a part of, the benefits and challenges of being in community, and what our ideal community would look like (commune with all of our friends, anyone?). We’d love to hear about the communities in your lives!

Eating Lately

Abby recently made the same chickpea curry her doula made for her family after Plum was born.

Sarah ate many a pumpkin cupcake in honor of Neil’s birthday–the perfect dairy-free dessert. To make, mix together:

• 1 cup of sugar (original recipe says two, but I find one to be more than sufficient)
• 1 cup oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can pumpkin (stir this in last after you’ve mixed other ingredients)

Then bake in the oven at 350 for 40-50 min (less if making cupcakes). Enjoy!

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!

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