A Thing or Two with Claire and Erica

This week, we muse on cross-body phone holders—time will tell if the trend wins us over—and talk Thingies with Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind, That Kind of Mother, and Rich and Pretty…books that are Thingies in their own right.     His Thingies: The Fitbod app, audiobooks of dad books via Libro.fm, uniform dressing, Cate Le Bon, and some real page-turners including Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson, Luster by Raven Leilani, Last Resort by Andrew Lipstein, and Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.    Share your Thingies guest noms! 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq.   A dose of our recs coming to your inbox weekly with a Secret Menu membership.   Try Nutrafol for thicker, healthier hair. Your first month’s subscription is $15 off with the code ATHINGORTWO. Give professional counseling a shot with BetterHelp—10% off your first month with our link. Slip into Honeylove, bras and underwear you can feel great about. 20% off your second item and 10% off your whole order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Download Best Fiends—for free—on the App Store or Google Play. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.   Recording live from a frictionless day, we’re talking all about the home trends that we’ve been loving right now, from Murano glass to canned-tomato decor.   If you’re also having a Murano glass moment, check out this NYT article and this YouTube video showing the process and then dig into some of our favorites in the Murano and Murano-inspired world: Sogni Di Cristallo, Ichendorf Milano, LagunaB, Susan Alexandra, Edie Parker Flower, Face Vessel by Degen, Casa Celva, and Serena Confalonieri.    For fans of marble everything, No One Alike goes hard at the decor, Concrete Cat makes epic lazy susans, Voutsa x Lambert McGuire Design has incredible wallpaper, and if you’re ever in Italy, Il Papiro in Florence makes incredible marbled paper goods as does Conti Borbone in Milan.   For floral motifs and more Italian vibes, check out Lisa Corti, Miho, and Issimo.    For turning your space into a GD garden, we love Bill Rebholz’s canned tomato print, Erin Jang’s asian pear print, and the oh-so-classic Enzo Mari apple print. Nonna’s Grocer carries some hyper-real citrus candles, and Handmade Soap Emporium has outrageous grape soaps. And we can’t talk about produce decor without mentioning Bordallo Pinheiro's cabbage dishes (also: the pepper storage box and the cabbage lamp).   For some magical hand-painted walls and furniture, check out the hotel Mesón Hidalgo in San Miguel de Allende, this Jake Arnold dining room, Beata Heuman kid’s room and this bar in another Beata Heuman project, and these bedside tables from Studio Ashby.   For some lots more design inspo, check out Annamarie Tendler’s profile in Harper’s Bazaar, Jayna Maleri’s home tour in Domino, Maire Coulson’s house in Architectural Digest, Brett Heyman’s home tour in Domino, Margherita Missoni home tour in Architectural Digest, and Beata Heuman’s mom’s house.    Let us know what home stuff you’re into (or any glass-blowing class experience you have!) at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. More recs coming your way with a Secret Menu membership!   Produced by Dear Media

Let’s talk about signing your name (hello, strange custom) and dig into Val Monroe’s Thingies! This genius woman—the former beauty director of O, The Oprah Magazine—writes the extremely thoughtful and epically named newsletter How Not to F*ck Up Your Face, and we’re fairly obsessed.   Sign up for Val’s newsletter at valeriemonroe.substack.com immediately. This is the moving installment on Facetiming with her granddaughter.   Val had a bunch of reading (and audiobook-listening) recommendations: the Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel, How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee, Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris (see also: Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris and Rewrites: A Memoir by Neil Simon), The News Sorority by Sheila Weller, The Overstory by Richard Powers, The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.   For a companion newsletter to Val’s, subscribe to Jessica DeFino’s The Unpublishable.    Beauty-ish things Val raves about: her aminolevulinic acid treatment experience, Colorescience Sunforgettable Total Protection Brush-On Shield SPF 50, the French perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, Laura Geller Baked Foundation, and Tocca Florence Laundry Delicate.   Share your favorite Thingies at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. Please!   If you’re in the mood for many more recs, there’s a Secret Menu membership for that.   Download the Zocdoc app for free and book that doctor’s appointment already. Get your birth control online with The Pill Club, which will make a $10 donation to Bedsider.org when you use our link. Feel fresh all day with Native and get 20% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO.   Produced by Dear Media

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode. This week, we’re getting wrapped up in a conversation about robes, the practice of towel time, and our favorite shopping memories featuring dated (but iconic!) tie skirts and timeless wrap dresses.    Some of the robes we love, for your lounging pleasure and leisure: Parachute’s Classic Turkish Cotton Robe, Skin’s Sierra Robe and Basic Double Layer Wrap Robe, Eberjey’s Rosalia Robe and Alpine Chic Super Sherpa Robe, and all the fun ones Block Shop and Print Fresh make. And how ‘bout this wings + horns Ace take?   Share your robe and towel-time rituals! 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq.   For many, many more of our favorites, get yourself a Secret Menu membership.   Discover N°1 DE CHANEL.   Produced by Dear Media

Get ready to take a trip down (your nose’s) memory lane because we’re talking about the scents of our youth. Oh, and: We’re making a plan to prevent contingency-planning from becoming a full-blown hobby.   Scent-sational reading: this 1988 New York Times article, written during the dawn of the age of the perfume ad, the book The End of Fashion by Teri Agins on how perfume and stockings became luxury-brand cash cows, and this BBC article about the heyday of celebrity fragrances.    Scentmatchers.com—go for the URL, stay for the extensive dropdown menu.    Check out our near-obsession Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman for a welcome perspective on time-management.    Did you have a signature scent? Is there some discontinued fragrance you’re sniffing around for? We need to know—@athingortwohq, podcast@athingortwohq.com, and 833-632-5463!    Sign up for Secret Menu for more, more, more where this came from.   Give professional counseling a try with BetterHelp—10% off your first month with our link. Support your business (big or small) with Shopify. Get a free 14-day trial with our link. Better understand your reproductive health with Modern Fertility—$20 off your test with our link. Try Honeylove for bras and underwear you can feel great about. 20% off your second item and 10% off your whole order with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode. We’re in need of things to enjoy—no, relish: Bring on the comfort content! Please! If you have recs, share ‘em with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq.   Read more about CUNY’s anonymous cash donor in the New York Times.   Check out Lewis Miller’s Flower Flash book, his Instagram, all of it.   To watch All That Jazz (not on a Delta flight), it’s all about the Criterion Collection.   Listen to  Once Upon a Time…at Bennington College podcast for all the hot 1980s undergrad goss about literary icons. (Check out the oral history that inspired the podcast, too.)   Everything Mindy Kailing touches is gold, and we’re especially sweating The Sex Lives of College Girls (what a name). As for things we’re excited for in the future? Season 2 of Starstruck, Season 2 of White Lotus, and a Marcel the Shell with Shoes On movie!   Produced by Dear Media

This week, we talk Thingies with the writer, creative consultant, and theorist behind the 3 p.m. outfit expiration, Harling Ross Anton. She also breaks down her rubric for what makes a good recommendation. All this to say: Everything is nice in here.   Harling’s Thingies! Fleece-lined black tights (all of them, really), Merit's The Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Foundation and Concealer Stick (Harling uses the shade bisque.), Chinya’s milk frother, Mighty Sesame Co.’s Tahini in a Squeeze Bottle, a made-just-for-her button-down shirt from Chava, DGL licorice extract for heartburn, D-Mannose for UTIs, and fantasy novels like A Court of Thorns and Roses.   Plz, plz follow Harling for so many more recs! She’s extremely good at them.   Share your favorite thingies at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq.   For more of our favorites, get yourself a Secret Menu membership.   Produced by Dear Media

It’s the first episode we’re recording in 2022, and we have THOUGHTS! TO! SHARE! We discuss the It’s Not That Deep archetype, the wackiest (slash most ingenious)  “work smarter and not harder” moments, and acknowledgement sections—unskippable, if you ask us.   Related to the It’s Not That Deep mentality: Tune into our perfectionism ep (and maybe pick up Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, too.).   Two essays on the acknowledgment section: "With a Little Help From Their Friends (and Agents and Librarians and Fact-Checkers ...)" by Jennifer Senior and "Against Acknowledgments" by Sam Sacks.   One of our favorite acknowledgement sections of late was from Black Buck—and don’t worry, we asked the author Mateo Askaripour about it when we interviewed him.   Have thoughts (or a story about an extreme case of working smarter and not harder)? We want to hear them at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq! If you like this, you’ll love Secret Menu. We think!   Produced by Dear Media

If you need a Week Two 2022 pick-me-up, how about an all-consuming romance novel and some Thingies from our guest Kelly Wright, founder of the internet’s coolest hardware store, Yuns?    For romance novels featuring autistic leads, pick up The Kiss Quotient, The Bride Test, and The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang (

This episode is all about the pressures we feel on our lives and our time (and, to a lesser extent, our necks and our tailbones). Don’t sleep on this one, is what we’re saying.   Live that ComfiLife! Side-sleep with a Hullo pillow!   The “Things We Want to Leave Behind and How to Start a Running Routine” ep we reference.   The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin—there’s also a quiz for that.    A handful of reads related to parenting (and, sigh, house work): All Joy and No Fun by Jennifer Senior, Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes, Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu, and More Work For Mother by Ruth Schwartz Cowan.   An enthusiastic endorsement of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.   Dirt’s “The season of tabs” newsletter by Alex Aciman. WE RELATE.   "The Myth of the Productive Commute" installment of Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study newsletter.   Talking about protecting your time with Mimi O Chun and “what happens if you don’t?” with Caroline Moss.   For last-min. presents, might we suggest Secret Menu gift subscriptions?    Please share your obligation feeeeeelings! 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq! Try professional counseling with BetterHelp—10% off your first month with our link. Sleep cozy in Printfresh—and get 15% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY. Produced by Dear Media