We’re so excited about this week’s Guest Thingies with Ellen Van Dusen of Dusen Dusen—great recommendations await! But first, some nuggets of wisdom from famously creative famous dudes.   We’re definitely taking inspiration from Rod Stewart’s model railway side project and Tom Hanks's advice to Austin Butler.    Ellen’s Thingies include being comfortable inside and outside the home (please see: her delightful robes…and brand-new slippers!!), @Favetiktoks420 on Instagram, and cool silverware (especially David Tisdale’s Picnic Flatware, which makes us think of Ahimsa dinnerware for kids). She also loves tile right now—see: Heath Ceramics, her collab with Concrete Collaborative, Fireclay, and Oasis—and you have to, have to check out her backyard mosaic. Last but not least: Her love of bird-watching has us asking when she’s going to start selling the birdhouse she designed for Brooklyn Botanic Garden (in the meantime, the MoMA one we’re all into). Ooh, and as we told Ellen, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a great book and a much better movie than it gets credit for being.   Share your dream Thingies guests with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   Give professional counseling a shot with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Help your curly hair look its best with LUS and get 15% off your first purchase of $50 or more with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Let’s go in-depth on romance novels! But first, we’re chatting with Madeline Nusser from Allstate Identity Protection, which oh-so-graciously sponsored this episode, to dig into something equally sexy: doing what you can to thwart identity theft.    Go to AIP.com/AThingOrTwo today to see if Allstate Identity Protection is available through your employer. If not sign up there to get a 30-day free trial.. Check out The Washington Post article on the rise of romance in the U.S. and this Twitter thread from Helen Rosner on the weirdness of publishing categories.    Some books that are not romance novels but kind of are:  Normal People by Sally Rooney Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (but her book Instructions for Dancing counts!) Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro   Books we endorse for romance newbs: The Idea of You by Robinne Lee The Roommate by Rosie Danan How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder Something Wilder by Christina Lauren Seven Days in June by Tia Williams Book Lovers by Emily Henry The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (see also: our podcast ep with Tallia) Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola (who’s a great Twitter follow) Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Every Summer After by Carley Fortune   More romance authors with many books to dive into:  Jasmine Guillory  Abby Jimenez Tessa Bailey   Have a romance novel you want, neeeeeed to recommend? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   Support your hair with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Look into Allstate Identity Protection (and see if your employer offers it, too). Use our link for a 30-day free trial. Try Bombas and take 20% off your first purchase when you use our link. Book that doctor’s appointment: Download the free Zocdoc app. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media  

​​You know what we have a lot to say about in this best-of-2011 ep? A lot of things, from high praise for neighborhood restaurants and actually useful apps to sharing weddings FAQs and advocating for yourself at the doctor’s office. If you want to sell others on the Michigan Star restaurant, maybe send them this quickie podcast pitch we did on The Best Advice Show.    Behold, the Covid wedding template of our dreams: Our beloved friends & family, It's only 30 days until our wedding! We're so glad that you are coming and celebrating this special day with us.  A few announcements regarding the wedding:  Serious stuff You must be fully vaccinated to attend the event. Please send your proof of vaccination to EMAIL ADDRESS. For children and adults with underlying medical conditions preventing them from getting vaccinated, we ask that you obtain a negative PCR Covid-19 test result within 48 hours prior to the event. Your health is of utmost importance to us, and we have therefore decided to cancel ANY CHANGES TO EVENT SCHEDULE. Fun stuff X, Y, Z!   Apps worth your limited phone storage space: Weather Strip, Libby, and PictureThis (related-ish: Merlin Bird ID).    We’re here for your feedback!  Share it with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Join us! We’re revisiting how we approach creativity and talk about people who refuse to be hemmed in by expectations and the algorithm.    For some insight about opening up to what interests you at a time and trusting that it will serve you, check out Steve Martin’s memoir, Born Standing Up, and read Pamela Adlon’s essay for Harper’s Bazaar.   After watching the newest Julia on HBO Max, we’re doing a Judith Jones deep-dive—next up: reading her memoir The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food. Another book that’s making us think about creative possibility: Margiela: The Hermès Years.    People who spread their (creative) wings: Stacey Abrams and her romance career as Selena Montgomery, Serena Willaims and her nail technician story, Venus Williams founding her design firm V Starr Interiors the same year she was ranked No. 1, David Lynch and his woodworking, and Bella Hadid, who has a new glassblowing hobby.     Rachel Tashjian’s Opulent Tips newsletter—sign up via DM!—introduced us to the idea of STROLL DONT SCROLL, and her recent Harper’s Bazaar pieces on Christopher John Rogers and Schiaparelli are great reads that show ya how her brain works.    Tune into Details Matter, from Jenni Kayne Home, a podcast we’re producing that has also been giving us a whole lot of inspiration, including the IG algorithm bit we mention ℅ Amanda Gunawan.   Do you have any top-tier grandma sayings? Share them with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership. Take your business to the next level with Shopify. Try a free 14-day trial with our link.   Right now, our listeners can get 15% off your first purchase of $50 or more!  But ONLY when you go to LUSBrands.com and enter promo code ATHINGORTWO   Produced by Dear Media. 

It’s Guest Thingies Day! We’re so excited to chat with Kavi Ahuja Moltz, the CEO of the exceptional scent co. D.S. & DURGA and the sort of person who knows cool stuff, always.   But first: potty-training and a related story from Romper about camping with kids.    Our favorite D.S. & DURGA perfumes include Italian Citrus, Coriander, and Rose Atlantic…and don’t sleep on the candles and genius auto fragrances, either. Ooh, also: This one-minute quiz is surprisingly delightful.   Kavi’s Thingies include traveling with playing cards, Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Cream Blush in Daiquiri Dip, looong walks, and potato chips (Charles Chips in the tin especially—and shout-out to this Eater story about why we don’t have masala chips at our grocers). She also loves fun socks! Her faves are from Simone Rocha and Tabio (see also: Darner and Hysteria), and her standard go-tos are Adidas black with white stripes.     Do you have tips for how to make walking meetings work? Please share them with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   Get professional counseling with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Check out Allstate Identity Protection (and see if your employer offers it, too). Use our link for a 30-day free trial. Sip on De Soi and get 15% off when you use the code ATHINGORTWO. Vacation with BÉIS and snag 15% off your first purchase with our link. Book that doctor’s appointment: Download the free Zocdoc app. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

It’s time to chat about all the stuff we’re obsessed with lately, most of which has been included in our Monday newsletter—do you get that thing??   Keep an eye on Fat Ham, a play we think will definitely have a second life, ideally on Broadway.    We both got a lot out of Burn Rate by Bonobos founder Andy Dunn, which tells the story of founding, running, and ultimately selling his company all while grappling with severe bipolar disorder. For another excellent memoir about bipolar disorder, read Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind.    Huge endorsement of the walnut larb at Good Night in Woodstock New York. The closest recipe comp we have surfaced is the one from walnuts.org.    For a perfect after-dinner candle, it’s all about Big Night’s Dinner Party one. See also: Epicurious’s story about dinner-party-appropriate scents, No.10 Aboukir by Maison Louis Marie, and Park Life by Boy Smells.   Want to make sorbet at home? Everyday Food from Martha has a vid withThomas Joseph that involves floating an egg to achieve the ideal sugar content and texture.   Cam’s forest camp introduced us to the amazing Muddy Buddy, we’re getting more our of our walks listening to Marcos Trinidad's Human/Nature podcast, and we’re on top of hyper-local news thanks to Patch.com.   Grow your business with Shopify. Try a free 14-day trial with our link. Drink something different with De Soi and get 15% off when you use the code ATHINGORTWO. Slip on some Bombas and take 20% off your first purchase when you use our link. Right now, our listeners can get 15% off your first purchase of $50 or more! Go to LUSBrands.com promo code ATHINGORTWO YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Buckle in, folks! This week, we’re talking about our garden-curator journeys, second-kid thoughts, and the slacker–to–chaos goblin line cook pipeline.    Looking for Fast-Growing Trees? Thank goodness there’s a company that sells exactly those.  Love the Bloomerang lilac shrub, and you clearly need to know about the smoothie kit. If you wanna grow the ~cool~ flowers, check out Plantgem. A few faves they sell: ProCut plum sunflower, crocus saffron bulbs, and Irene Parrot tulip bulbs. Peony fans should investigate Styer’s, David Austin is as good at roses as at customer service, and for regional wildflower seed mixes, look to Wildseed Farms.    How’s you decide whether or not to have a second kid? Please share any and all thoughts you have on this topic with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq.  An article related to this conversation: Emily Gould’s NYT piece "More Kids? After the Last Two Years? No Thanks.”   For thoughts about the present-day incarnation of the slacker, check out this tremendous tweet by @yeehaw_meg. (Of course, we’re thinking about it in the context of The Bear.)    Any plants you’re obsessed with? Have theories about slackers? Share them with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   Download Best Fiends—for free—on the App Store or Google Play. Get that thicker, healthier hair with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Jazz up your wardrobe with Nuuly. Get $10 off your first month when you sign up with the code ATHINGORTWO10. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

This is a jam-packed episode: We’ve got destination sandwiches. We’ve got photographer Noah Kalina’s Thingies. We’ve got baby-wipes expertise from grown-ups. Ready? Great.     If you’re in NYC, please scurry to & Sons Buttery for their salami cotto sandwich (please also eat at the restaurant—a ham bar!) and Court Street Grocers for their vegitalian. Special shoutout to The Bobbie from Capriotti’s in Wilmington, Delaware, too. For further destination-sandwich reading, check out Helen Rosner's New Yorker story about the plane sandwich and the Turkey and the Wolf cookbook by Mason Hereford with JJ Goode.    Check out Noah Kalina’s Instagram, his curiosity-filled newsletter, his podcasts JPEG 2000 and Do you hear that?, his incredible portraits of chickens, and, wow, so much more.   Noah’s Thingies include the Samsung Frame that turns into art (art!) when it’s off, Cometeer coffee, the Toto Washlet, Water Wipes for when you’re away from your Toto Washlet, (bonus rec from Claire for toddlers: Coterie Wipes), Ego power tools, and Crocs (

It’s about time for an addendums episode! AKA an ep where we dump our additional thoughts (and your feedback) on topics we’ve discussed—because there’s always more to say about styling, aging, and, apparently, catalogs.    Looking for a method to define your personal style? Check out Allison Bornstein’s Three-Word  Method on TikTok: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6 for your clicking pleasure. (Call us with your wooords!!) More about her philosophy in this Harper’s Bazaar profile.   Re: styling, a follow-up on Amy Smilovic, including the outfit that stopped Claire in her tracks and her shirt-tying innovation. When it comes to button-downs, Claire loves her custom oversize Chava one—it’s great with elastic-waist pants (as is this Roucha tank top.)    In response to our discussion of marbling, we learned about some family-owned places to get monogrammed marbled gifts in Florence: Alberto Cozzi and Riccardo Luci.    Speaking of Italy, we both recently visited and fell hard for Milan—it lives up to the promise of Jenny Walton’s Instagram and Sight Unseen’s Design Week coverage. Keep an eye out for a future Secret Menu installment starring our favorite Milan spots.    Also on the docket: push-up tips, Being Mortal by Atul Gawande for grieving and coping with aging parents, and The Flamingo Estate catalog for zaniness…and as a resource for anyone in L.A. who might want to receive  a bag of manure as a gift.   Share your thoughts with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   Dip into professional counseling with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Refresh your closet with Nuuly. Get $10 off your first month when you sign up with the code ATHINGORTWO10. Support a business of any size with Shopify. Dig in with a free 14-day trial with our link. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Who better to talk Thingies with than Lauren Sherman, the chief correspondent at The Business of Fashion and the host of their wonderful—and quick!—new podcast The Debrief?! NOBODY. She fills us in on the third-wave coffee movement (We have a lot of questions.), a great investment T-shirt, and the trick that keeps her kid well-rested while traveling. Speaking of travel: There is a difference between a trip and a vacation, and we’d like to manage some expectations.   Listen to The Debrief—it has as feeling more fashion-industry-informed than we have in years.   Lauren has a LOT of insight on third-wave coffee and natural-process coffee beans. Some of her favorite places to get them: Andytown in San Franciso, Heart Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, Tandem Coffee Roasters in Portland, Maine, 49th Parallel in Vancouver, Cafe integral in NYC, Dune Coffee Roasters in Santa Barbara, and Kumquat Coffee & Tea in Los Angeles. She’s also passionate about Three Trees almondmilk and making coffee with an AeroPress.   If you’re looking for a stand-out T-shirt, Lauren loves Dries van Noten’s. If you find yourself in Europe, scoop ‘em up there for better prices—or keep an eye on Yoox and The Outnet for deals. Other especially good brands for tees: James Perse and the men’s dept. of Comme des Garçons.    When hitting the road with a baby, Lauren highly recommends bringing a SnoozeShade for Pack 'n Plays.   How do you order stuff that doesn’t ship to the U.S.? Lauren uses Reship.com for that, and KoreaBuddy is a good option for items from Korea specifically.    We 1000% need some new catchphrases. Share your thoughts with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   Support your immune system with Athletic Greens and get a one-year supply of Vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase when you use our link. Turn to Thinx and get $10 off your first order when you visit rethinkyourcycyle.com and use the code ATHINGORTWO. Treat kids to Little Passports and get 20% off when you use our link.   Get comfy with Bombas and take 20% off your first purchase when you use our link. Travel better with BÉIS and snag 15% off your first purchase with our link. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media