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.  

Listeners share their quirky and hilarious 'thingies,' from a unique gibbets lending library to humorous laundry struggles. The hosts dive into the sentimental value of everyday items and explore fun fashion trends like pearl tassel shoelaces. Prepare for laughs as they discuss unconventional food experiences, including the cult-favorite Garlic Expressions salad dressing. Plus, mind-bending tips on bathing rituals and makeup brush cleaning that may just change your routine. Get ready for a wild ride through relatable domestic chaos!

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!  

Oh, we are excited about this week’s Thingies guest! Get ready to dive into the mind of the inaugural 831 Stories author, Alexandra—AKA Zan—Romanoff. We gab with her about Big Fan, fanfiction tropes, Hanson, ocean swims, online vintage shopping, you name it.   Zan’s Thingies are Henné Lip Tint, Bask reef-safe sunscreen, Will Rogers Beach in Santa Monica, the Gem App, and the public library.     Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff is out tomorrow, September 10. Grab a ticket to one of Zan’s LA or NYC events (we’ll be in attendance too!) and dive into the all of the book-universe bonus features (including an epilogue).   Get even more Zan: Read her YA books (Grace and the Fever is very Big Fan–adjacent) and listen to the pop culture + sports podcast she co-hosts with Sarah Enni, On the Bleachers.   More on Canadian Shack fics (um, delightful).   Also, we want to make sure you know that we are in the Jack Schlossberg/Miele fan club.   What’s your fandom of choice? Share with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!   Follow @haagendazs_us on Instagram and let them know in the comments that we sent you!  YAY.  

In a true throw-back classic episode from last year: Make sure to double-knot your shoes because we’re running through a bunch of activewear brands, morning baths, kale phones, butter money, and COTC (corn on the cob, clearly).   You can read more about Vuori’s lore in Courier (and try out their Pose fitted polo, Daydream drew, and All the Feels bra for yourself). Other workout wear of interest: Splits59 (specifically their Raquel flared leggings), Wilson (how ‘bout these Wynne pleated pants and the pleated court short?), Tracksmith ( their Article One running sunglasses collab!), District Vision, Satisfy, On, Tory Sport, and Sweaty Betty. Curious about cool sports stores? We’ve heard good things about Distance in Paris, we love FrontRunners in L.A., and we have to hand it to Pete Carlson Golf and Tennis in Palm Desert for going *deep*.    The everything shower! Consider this reel from The Everygirl your primer.    If you’re looking to limit your oblivion time, check out the OneSec app…or consider the cocaine/kale phone, via George Mack by way of Trung Phan. Also, the to-google notepad, ℅ Courtney Martin.    Butter sculpture season, our Bama Rush? A great read: "The Secret Feminist History of Butter Cows” by Lyz Lenz.   What activewear brands do you like, how do you morning bath if you do such a thing?! Share with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!   Show your hair the love with Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Hire with Indeed and get a $75 sponsored job credit when you use our link. YAY.  

Is anybody looking to start a hummus business?!? Do we have some domain names for you! In addition to our GoDaddy closet sale, we also have a grab bag to discuss, including mouth tape, face shaving, rat poop legal battles, WNBA mascots, and more!   Re: personal catchphrases: the title Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner got us thinking.    If you want to hear the case for VIO2 mouth tape that converted Claire, check out our Guest Thingies episode with Glynnis MacNicol.    Claire loved getting dermaplaned at Carrie Lindsey Beauty in Brooklyn.    Erica’s nightgown journey involves the Skims Fits Everybody and Soft Lounge dresses, while Claire’s includes Taleen, Eileen West, Vermont Country Store, and Salter House—if you’re chasing the Victorian ghost aesthetic.    For all your LA luxury cat hotel needs: Check out Chats de The, Purrvana, and Cateau Marmont.   WNBA star to stan: Breanna Stewart. US Open player with peak energy: Taylor Townsend.    Want to start ratemyvcs.com? Great, get in touch via 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, @athingortwohq, or our Geneva!   Follow @haagendazs_us on Instagram and let them know in the comments that Claire and Erica sent you!  Slip into your new fall shoes from Marc Fisher and use the code ATHINGORTWO to receive 20% off your purchase. YAY.