Ah, we can’t wait for you to get to hang with Upasna Barath! We chat *THINGIES* with the author and playwright—and also discuss her experience writing Comedic Timing, a modern bi-awakening with exceptional dialogue and the most charming friendships. It’s the next exceedingly delightful 831 Stories release, out tomorrow!   Upasna’s Thingies include incense in the mornings (Upstate Stock’s Albany Black Spruce, specifically), scented body oil over perfume (Nuxe FTW), a red lip with no makeup ( Violette Bisou Balm—and maybe she’ll try Ilia Lip Sketch Hydrating Crayon?), Italian hand gestures, a heating pad, meaningful apologies, and Opsin Archive ceramics.    Also, onions are approaching A Moment in untraditional formats (as in, on feet?)?    Keith Haring helps us define cutie eyes—shoutout to Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring by Brad Gooch—and even if you can’t make it to Luna Luna, check out the original posters and merch.   What does a meaningful apology look like to you? Share at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or in our Geneva.   Treat your hair to Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Launch your store on Shopify and get a $1-a-month trial with our link. YAY.  

In the throes of everything 2025 is throwing at us, we’re discussing how we approach wellness and the small things we do to take care of ourselves (at least a little bit!!!). Major thanks to OSEA for bringing us this episode—10% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO!   Can we start with some praise for OSEA’s Undaria Algae Body Butter? It absorbs quickly, it feels excellent, and it’s making Claire actually moisturize every day.   Claire is also exercising with Cam, opting for phone calls over Zooms, going on “do not disturb” more often, making lunchbox drawings, and watching TV on her phone while doing other things.   Erica’s getting an actual desk setup, eating a fulfilling lunch (shoutout to Chris Gayomali’s Heavies Substack about soup), revisiting her five-year journal, maintaining a saved sentence archive practice, and having high-end fun and heavy snacks.    How are you taking extra care of yourself right now? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or in our Geneva.   Give your skin a New Year glow-up with clean, clinically tested skincare from OSEA and get 10% off your first order sitewide with code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.  

Before diving into the newness of 2025, we wanted to reflect on our top Thingies of last year. Fashion, framing, food, and a full-blown flurry of favorites ahead!    Claire’s best-of Thingies include the PJ Library, Wisp, Épice Paris, Bluesafe24 glasses, Caro Chambers, and the Natori Bliss Girl Brief.    Erica’s Thingies of the year include Biryani Bol, Nelle Atelier (specifically their Laura style), Susan Orlean’s Wordy Bird Substack, Framebridge, Buena Vista Social Club the musical, and, of course, Josh Hartnett’s return.    What were your 2024 Thingies? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or in our Geneva!   Download the free Zocdoc app and book that doctor’s appointment now. Launch your store on Shopify and get a $1-a-month trial with our link. YAY.  

It’s time to let your inner Larry David out because we have THOUGHTS to SHARE!  Gen Alpha has a new (jarring??) way to learn their alphabet.  We were suspicious of isitpacked.com for planning a Disneyland trip, but we’ve changed our tune. Things we won’t shut up about include OSSA phone straps and Goop Kitchen.  Let’s discuss Uggs, shall we?  Do you/kids in your life have daily affirmations? If so, send them in at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or pop them in our Geneva!   Learn from the best with MasterClass and get up to 50% off when you use our link.  

Call it a classic grab bag from this time last year! Please note that we are still in the market for your Notes App intel…    Gained some wisdom from @OlsenOracle, a perfect fan account (that is maybe even Olsen approved???).   We’re having a Marcella Hazan moment, thanks to, as Food & Wine put it her “radical simplicity.” Some recipes we’ve been cooking: THE tomato, onion, and butter sauce, grilled fish romagna style, pesto, rice and smothered cabbage soup, and chimney sweep’s gelato.    Speaking of cooking, we must discuss this Julia Child gas stove story by Rebecca Leber for Vox, which pairs well with “How the Fossil Fuel Industry Convinced Americans to Love Gas Stoves,” which she wrote for Mother Jones.    Your Notes Apping!! See: this packing-list  revelation from@rileejsmith (um, the template). We also love this TikTok from @kiramackenz.   What weird things are you up to in the Notes App? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or in our Geneva!   Give your hair the gift of Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.

In a rerun of an *absolute hit* episode from last holiday season, we’re talkin’ Thingies with Alison Roman, the woman behind a SLEW of recipes we cook all the dang time. We know you know her, but JIC, she’s the author of NYT bestselling—and gifty!—cookbooks Sweet Enough, Nothing Fancy, and Dining In, she doles out the most delightful kitchen content in A Newsletter and on her Home Movies YouTube channel, and she delivers guidance of all kinds on her Solicited Advice podcast. In essence: She’s full of thoughts, and we want them all.   First things first, what we would bring to a pilot kid-gift swap (thx, Leslie!): Spirograph, Yellow Owl Workshop DIY Pin & Flair Kit, Bastien Contraire Stencil Kit, Majo Ideas Art Pack, and Pop Tubes.   Alison’s tabletop Thingies include beeswax candles (try Greentree Home Candle—maybe in the sangria color?!), candle holders *in general* (e.g., this Sophie Lou Jacobson one), and interesting serving platters including Bordallo Pinheiro's. For the bod, she loves using Laneige’s lip mask as lip balm, and Davines’s Vegetarian Miracle Mask for her hair. On the food front, how about chopped fermented chilies—use them to make her Brothy Chickpeas with Calabrian Chili (and/or these chickpeas)—and, for dessert, Kolsvart gummies.    Share your Thingies with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and @athingortwohq, or drop them in our Geneva!   YAY.  

Are a majority of today’s topics serendipitously eighties related? Yes. Are we inadvertently excited about that? Indeed.      Pizza Hut updates! Tomato-basil Pizza Wine and American Girl’s Book It! Set.    Someone barefoot 24/7: Buffalo Bills wide receiver Mack Hollins.     And spotted! Cutie eyes on Kacey Musgraves merch.    We are loving Rivals, which is based on a novel by Dame Jilly Cooper. See also: her takes in this Financial Times interview and “It’s Family ‘Sex Scenes’ Night” by Anya Kamenetz for The Cut.   If you’re in NYC soon, check out Luna Luna at The Shed, and read Joe Coscarelli’s piece on it in the New York Times for more backstory.    Share your follow-ups and/or recommendations at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments!   Count on Shopify for all your ecomm needs and get a $1-a-month trial with our link. Learn from the best with MasterClass and get up to 50% off when you use our link. Download the free Zocdoc app and book that doctor’s appointment now. YAY.

You ready to talk about romance, feminism, and monsters? We sure are, and so is Sanjana Basker, a psychology PhD student and bookish content creator who we’re obsessed with (in a totally normal way). Also: some animal updates, thank goodness.    Animal Updates! Kacey Musgraves is an NYC rat defender (join the club), the raccoon at LaGuardia has captured our hearts, and Claude has arrived at Erica’s house (by way of Long Island Rabbit Rescue)!   Sanjana’s Thingies are Rivals on Hulu, mass-market paperbacks, Calzedonia tights, @poetssquarecats (see also: @catworkers), and L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil.   Some authors mentioned in this ep include Lisa Kleypas and Libba Bray, and books mentioned include Left of Forever by Tara DeWitt, Office Hours and Sabbatical by Katrina Jackson, Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba, and Dead Weight: Essays on Hunger and Harm by Emmeline Clein.   Want to more of Sanjana? The way she talks about romance on TikTok is an absolute delight, and her episode of the Care So Much Podcast is fantastic.   What romances are you loving right now? Let us know at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments!   Treat your hair to Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Upgrade your cleaning experience with Blueland and get 15% off your first order when you use our link. YAY.  

We are so excited to chat with photo director/visual cultural commentator/incredible Instagram follow Emily Keegin about her Thingies! Also: some thoughts on where to get your gift guides this year, should you not be overwhelmed with them already. Thank you for respecting our decision not to do 2024 gift guides! If you want past installments, we have five year’s worth here. For the freshest stuff, check out Helen Rosner’s for the New Yorker, Goop (the modern Neiman Marcus catalog?), Caroline Moss of Gee Thanks!, Alisha Ramos of Downtime, T mag, The Strategist’s searchable Gift Scout, and a roundup of Substack gift guides from last year (that’ll point you toward this year’s too, certainly).  Emily’s Thingies include Thomas Tallis polychoral music from the 1500s (Fifty Shades–coded?), spraying perfume or hand sanitizer on your armpits and vodka on your clothes, passionfruit, Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruefle, and scrolling through someone else’s Instagram feed. What are your Thingies lately? Please share with us at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments! Hire with Indeed and get a $75 sponsored job credit when you use our link. Learn from the best with MasterClass and get up to 50% off when you use our link. YAY.  

Welcome to Article Club! A few that require our attention this week span topics from an important anniversary to management tips to recommendation culture. Now off to go eat a personal pan pizza… Is it an overstatement to say that Book It! is one of our generation’s premier cultural references? This NYT story commemorates the 40th anniversary, and an LA Times article from 1985 made us feel nostalgic. See also: pins for sale on eBay and Tejal Rao’s fascinating review of Chain.  We loved “Want To Be A Good Boss? Be A Bitch.” by Samhita Mukhopadhyay for Bustle. Here’s to intergenerational slaying! The Locavore Guide to Shopping NYC by Caroline Weaver is a tribute to physical guidebooks of yore featuring 670 NYC shops. It has a a searchable digital directory too! Relevant: "The Banality of Online Recommendation Culture" by Kyle Chayka in The New Yorker. Does anybody have any intel on Cutie Eyes? Please share with us at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments! Look to Shopify for all your ecomm needs and get a $1-a-month trial with our link. YAY.

Another day, another kookalook collection of topics from us, including new lingo care of (honorary Bob) Jack Schlossberg, wrinkle makeup, minimalist shoes, LaGuardia Airport, and a straw cupdate.    Wrinkle makeup—not what you think, probably! Check out a couple of looks by @shine__rising and rachy_mua. Related: crackle lips.    In which we dip our toes into the minimalist shoes conversation: Gait Happens, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, and The Infinite Race 30 for 30 doc by Bernardo Ruiz are all relevant on the content front. Some brands of interest: Muki, Vivo Barefoot, and Groundies. They kind of remind us of Prada Sport from the late 90s/early aughts, Miu Miu rope sandals, and ballet flats with wide toe boxes from Sandy Liang and Proenza. Also: Let’s take this opportunity to shoutout Yoga Toes.    We’ve been considering giving our ComfiLife a break and trying a kneeling chair. Memor and Varier are good-looking options!   In the world of straw cups, Claire got a BrüMate and really likes it! (Don’t get her the MargTini though.)   Where do you stand on Eat/Pray/Love vs. FMK? Do you believe they can coexist? Let us know at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments!   Care for your hair love with Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Learn from the best with MasterClass and get up to 50% off when you use our link. YAY.

We are DELIGHTED to have Alana Cloud-Robinson on today to share her Thingies from her perfect, wood-paneled home (more on that, clearly). She’s the author of the 831 Stories release Hardly Strangers, out tomorrow, and, wow, we can’t wait for you to read this one.   Alana’s Thingies include shoulder pads, thrifting (see: The Council Shop!), her home in Century City, and Irish culture (shoutout to Fontaines D.C., and Say Nothing).   Want more Alana? Check out The Artists Are Frightened, her premier collection of personal poetry.   Also, a really important album that is (somehow) a follow-up to our milk.com conversation.   What are *your* Thingies? Let us know at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments!   Find some support with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Level-up your cleaning experience with Blueland and get 15% off your first order when you use our link. Fall in love with 831 Stories and take 15% off your order with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.

After this episode, we have some action items for the Bobs: 1. Petition Dairy Queen and Carvel to make their ice cream cake minis available nationwide, year-round. 2. Use “whenharrymetsallying” in a sentence. 3. Send us your thoughts on NYC Marriage Bureau merch.  We aren’t doing gift guides this year, but we’ll tell you good places to look once it's time! Start with giftguide.substack.com.  We’re excited to meet Chewbie, Hi-Chew’s new Mascot, but perhaps this is a "say less" situation? The Rat Pack is still in our lives, and it introduced us to the MeowSquad.  Speaking of local government initiatives, the NYC Marriage Bureau has merch! We especially love the Witness Tee and "I Got Married in New York City" mug.  All about Split59’s Raquel high waist crop legging, and we’ll try their Icon legging and report back. A shoutout to A24’s book Hey Kids, Watch This! It’s full of movie recs, great design, and FUN.  What menu items do you whenharrymetsally? Let us know at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments! Hire with Indeed and get a $75 sponsored job credit when you use our link. Send your first Moonpig card for FREE with the code ATHINGORTWO. Pre-order Hardly Strangers from 831 Stories and get a free Only One Bed Keychain—and take 15% off any order with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.  

We have some very serious reporting about very serious topics coming your way, including the official Sanrio character rankings, a Jellycat status update, and some wild news from the domain-hoarding beat.   We have to take a moment to show some love to Kuromi, the third-ranked Sanrio character overall and Sanrio costume-sourcing, ℅  Sueju Design and Nerdy Treasures by Amy.  How Jellycat became so popular with kids and grown-ups alike. Also: Their pop=ups give Sew Your Soul vibes, in our opinion.  Let’s talk tech! Our listener Olivia shared her Notion tips, we are flatted for the credit you’re giving us for Google Tabs, and we loved the piece “The Million-Dollar Mystery of Milk.com” by Alex Mayyasi for The Hustle.   Finally, have you listened to "Longer Gone" yet?   Name how much $$ it would take for you to change your email for at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, our Geneva, or our Substack comments! Show your hair love with Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Send your first Moonpig card for FREE with the code ATHINGORTWO. Upgrade your cleaning experience with Blueland and get 15% off your first order when you use our link. Get a free Sage guidebook for parents with kids ages 5 to 12 who want to better navigate tech and their digital worlds. YAY.

Just a heads up, this episode will make you want to refresh your bra and underwear drawer! We’re talking Thingies with Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez, the authors of the smart, compelling, and fast-pased book Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon.   As mentioned, bra and underwear Thingies incoming! Chantal absolutely swears by the Tom Bra from the brand Mary Jo, and Lauren likes bras from Only Hearts, Notori Bliss underwear, and Bombas UItra Stretch Calf Socks. Also, shoutout to Le Bon Shoppe’s Her Socks.    Misc. Thingies include Chantal’s go-to assassin’s pasta and Lauren’s rejection of (most) kids' music.    Want more of Lauren and Chantal? Lauren writes Puck’s Line Sheet newsletter and hosts the companion podcast Fashion People, and you can find Chantal’s writing in The Cut (see: “The Unbranding of Abercrombie”), for starters.   Friends, you gotta read Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon. We are thinking and talking about it a lot, a lot.   Finally, for those intrigued by Soupstack, check out Anne Helen Petersen’s 3rd annual soup roundup (4th annual coming…sometime, we’d bet?!). Ella Risbridger of You Get In Love And Then is also testing crowdsourced soups, and Becca Freeman shared her favorites too. A few of our own favorites: Ottolenghi’s curried lentil, tomato, and coconut, 101 Cookbook’s red lentil with lemon, Smitten Kitchen’s carrot with miso and sesame, Thomas Keller’s butternut squash.   Actually good: Souper Cubes.    Do you have bra and underwear recs we have to know about? Please share them at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or our Geneva!   Count on Shopify for all your ecomm needs and get a $1-a-month trial with our link. Treat your teeth well with a Slate Electric Flosser and get 10% off when you use our link. Try L.A. Burdick’s delightful and individually handcrafted chocolates (the ghosts, the coffin!). Give your first Moonpig card for FREE with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.  

Gather round! We have a whole lot to say about Fudgie the Whale, learning chess, finding your inner paid tier, and a whole lot more. But what’s new?    This many week post-launch of 831 Stories, we’re so grateful for the love you’ve shared for Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff! If you’re looking for additional recs to hold you over until Hardly Strangers by A.C. Robinson comes out in November, take a peek at our list.   Did you know Fudgie the Whale’s mold moonlights as Santa during the holidays? Check out this CNN article for the deets. If you’re feeling ambitious, we love this Ali Slagle ice-cream cake recipe.    We are now deeply committed to Jouer’s Skin Barrier Cream. Shoutout to Knockout Beauty’s facialist!    We’re also hyped on Seed’s Pediatric Daily Synbiotic and Storytime Chess over here.    "If" by Rudyard Kipling has some good life advice for 8th graders and grown-ups alike.    What’s your personal paid tier? Let us know at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or our Geneva!   Challenge your preconceptions about the real origin of our species and check out Eve by Cat Bohannon, available everywhere books are sold. Tackle your fears with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Give your first Moonpig card for FREE with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.  

Bobs, you all have been sharing a lot of Thingies that are unignorable. They’ve been moving, unhinged, funny—and we must discuss them.    We’re loving the nym SNAG: Sensitive New Age Guy, ℅ Maia via the podcast Shameless.    Portlanders, have you been to The Croc Stop yet—a jibbitz lending library, brought to our attention by Kelly? See also: shoe charms…which we’re kind of charmed by.   Your bathing rituals, friends. Kelsey had a tip on washing makeup brushes in the shower; Rebecca has a tub desk that we could talk about for hours.    Also, very publicly hoping our favorite establishments follow Garlic Expressions’s lead and give us some bottled salad dressing! Thank you for the comments on this one, Laura and TK.   Keep those Thingies coming! Enlighten us at podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or our Geneva!   Hire with Indeed and get a $75 sponsored job credit when you use our link. Support your hair with Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Challenge your preconceptions about the real origin of our species and check out Eve by Cat Bohannon, available everywhere books are sold. YAY.  

Status report: We’re a little bit hanging on by a thread over here, and we’re so impossibly grateful to Duckbill—sponsor of this week’s ep!—for helping us chip away at our to-do lists. (Or, better yet: taking on projects so we don’t have to put them on our to-do lists in the first place.) More on this, along with chore charts, a useful response to the having kids question, and an important discussion of snapping.   Duckbill—a recurring Thingies submission from you all—is an executive assistant for your personal life, led by expert humans and enhanced with AI superpowers. Use the code ATHINGORTWO for 50% off your first two months, plus priority off the waitlist.   Oh, look, a bunch of ideas for how to use Duckbill.   Do you have any Notion tips ‘n tricks? We’re here for them.   Tell us your favorite ways to use Duckbill at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or our Geneva!   Get support with Duckbill and take 50% off your first two months, plus priority off the waitlist, with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.  

Want the scoop on what the kids are up to? Casey Lewis is your gal. We’re chatting with the genius behind After School—iconic newsletter and epic new podcast tracking all things Gen Z—about back-to-school trends, curly-hair controversy, and, of course, Thingies.   Some trending BTS items include tube tops and sweats (ideally together?), On shoes, Adidas Campus sneakers, Birkenstock Bostons, *the* Abercrombie camo hoodie, and Dae’s Cactus Fruit 3-in-1 Styling Cream with Taming Wand.   Casey’s Thingies include the Wet Brush (Claire is trying out the Bounce Curl brush, too), fiber (chia seeds!), a walking pad, and the Funky Nassau from the Lot in Greenpoint (combo of white wine and Grapefruit Spindrift).   Subscribe to the After School newsletter and podcast, both. Casey knows how to make trend-tracking very entertaining.   Cooking oil recs from us: Algae Cooking Club and Enzo infused olive oil (Organic Basil Crush and Organic Fresno Chili Crush specifically).   What’s your take on the (potential) skinny jeans resurgence? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!   Boost your hair with Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Turn to Shopify for all your ecomm needs and get a $1-a-month trial with our link. YAY.  

We are THRILLED that cultural commentator/overall delight Hunter Harris—of Hung Up and Lemme Say This fame—is joining us today to share her Thingies! We couldn’t chat with her without asking for her takes on all the hot pop culture gossip, so unwrap your Fruit Roll-Up and enjoy!   Want more of Hunter? If you don’t already, subscribe to her must-read newsletter Hung Up and listen to her Wondery podcast Lemme Say This, which she co-hosts with Thingies alum Peyton Dix.    Hunter’s Thingies are LMNT electrolyte drink mixes, Fruit Roll-Ups, lemon and orange essential oils in the trash can, Rhode Pocket Blush, washing her makeup brushes, iS Clinical Active Serum, and tennis.   She gets her news (aka celeb gossip) from Gossip Time, StraightioLab, Las Culturistas, Who? Weekly, and of course, Reddit influencer snark.    Want to get in on the accidental Idiocracy x Crocs collab? Share your thoughts at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!