A Thing or Two with Claire and Erica

We’re chatting with Recho Omondi, a fashion designer and the host of the incredible podcast The Cutting Room Floor, and you’re going to want to hear her Thingies (and everything else she’s interested in, honestly). Also: a tattoo that got our wheels turning.   If you’re looking for a follow-up to our convo about living with longing, check out this this New Yorker article about choose your own adventure books by Leslie Jamison. See also: Lois Lowry on the 70 Over 70 podcast.   Hit play on Recho’s podcast The Cutting Room Floor; do all your chores! A recent cool guest: Mina White. A few dream guests: Mel Ottenberg and Piergiorgio Del Moro.   And if you’re YouTube-curious, Colin and Samir is a Recho-recommended channel.    Recho’s Thingies include Kinn fine jewelry, Camber hoodies (more ℅ a recent GQ story) Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (specifically the Massachusetts ep), Parachute linen bedding (our other recs: Linoto, and Merci), and her Jenni Kayne Home bed.     Do you have dream Thingies guests? Share them with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And try out a Secret Menu membership for more recommendations.   Treat your curls to LUS and take 15% off your first purchase of $50 or more with the code ATHINGORTWO. Get the ecomm support you need with Shopify. Snag a free 14-day trial with our link. Feel your best in Honeylove and get 20% off with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Introducing our first rockstar guest, Margo Price! She shares her Thingies and talks about writing her memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It, which is a story of perseverance, tell you what.    The fanny-pack discourse: We have an update on the Bandolier, a discussion of pockets ft. Véronique Hyland’s book Dress Code, and a pitch for goofier kids’ clothes inspired by this crewneck with a built-in fanny pack from All Small Co.    What inspired Margo’s Maybe We’ll Make It? Patti Smith’s incredible Just Kids.    Margo’s Thingies include T3 hair dryers and curling irons, Greater Goods CBD/CBN Evening Tincture, Thieves Oil, Acid for the Children by Flea, and two Nashville faves: A Shop of Things and The Continental.    If you’re new to Margo’s music and want a place to start, hit play on "Pay Gap"...and get ready for a new album in January.   Do you have a dream Thingies guest? Thoughts about fanny packs you need to share? We’re ready for them at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership. Destigmatize hair thinning by sharing your story at shedthesilence.com.  YAY. Produced by Dear Media

We're coming to you fresh from our high-school reunions, and there are lots of reflections ahead. On old friendships, yes…and also on dips, chips, and the controversial baby carrot.   Some condiments we’re excited about include Cabi sweet yuzu vinegar, umami dashi soy sauce, and zesty sansho peppercorn miso. We’re also loving Chicas tortilla chips, Burlap & Barrel black lime and Reem’s spice blends, Gjusta Goods marinated olive oil and herbed salt, Ella’s Flats, Zingerman’s pimento cheese, Gotham Greens pesto, McClure’s little pickles, and Breadblok almond thins. For more tremendous munching, head to Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River, Massachusetts (or, you know, online).   An iconic book of our teen years: Swell: A Girl's Guide to the Good Life by Ilene Rosenzweig and Cynthia Rowley.    Do you have thoughts on reunions (or hot snack tips)? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.   Give professional counseling a chance with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Help your hair with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Book that doctor’s appointment—today! Download the free Zocdoc app. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

We have an amazing Guest Thingies episode today with Jessi Hempel, prolific tech writer and host of the podcast Hello Monday whose new memoir The Family Outing you have to check out. Also: details about our blossoming relationship with TikTok.    A TikTok follow for your pop-culture PR needs: @mollybmcpherson.    The Family Outing! A memoir! If this description doesn’t suck you in: “By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer.”   A book that gets at the challenges of memory: David Carr’s The Night of the Gun.   An A Thing or Two rec that Jessi cosigns: this inflatable travel pillow for flying with a kid…but probably for lots of other purposes, too.    Jessi’s Thingies: Potette (as she’s on a potty-training journey that rivals Claire’s), Cliq portable camping chairs for sitting…everywhere, Anne Helen Peterson’s Culture Study newsletter, and adding your pronouns to your email signature.    Our conversation about returning to the office—RTO, y’all!—made us think of Delia Cai’s great piece in Vanity Fair.   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.   Get your curly hair looking its best with LUS and take 15% off your first purchase of $50 or more with the code ATHINGORTWO. Look into Allstate Identity Protection (your employer may offer it, even). Use our link for a 30-day free trial. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Updates AND new topics? Wow, this episode really has it all. We issue a correction about Jibbitz, share some third-birthday gift recommendations, and present some alts for words like “affordable” and “expensive,” which are loaded (

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