A Thing or Two with Claire and Erica

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

We’re steaming (and pan-frying!) a lot of frozen dumplings, and we’re recommending a lot of Thingies. Come along with us, huh?   But first: latke cookies.    A dumplings-as-an-aesthetic episode of this very podcast.   Frozen dumplings we’re into: Fly by Jing and Nom Wah.   Stunning rainbow dumplings we’re into: Sandita’s rainbow dumplings.   Three things that make a big difference when cooking up dumplings at home: a bamboo steamer, Chinkiang black vinegar, and these Wing on Wo soup spoons. Another helpful resource: Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes.   Ok, Thingies!! Kevyn Aucoin Beauty The Volume Mascara (Claire) and Lily Lolo Natural Vegan Mascara (Erica), Saint Olio cleaner (plus hand sanitizer), Wolford tights (start with Velvet De Luxe 50 or 66), Zicam lozenges, Maldon salt (see: this Bon App article), Kewpie Deep-Roasted Sesame Dressing, Lo & Sons The O.G. 2 carry-on (plus a charming video), Kinto kids’ dishes, and Trader Joe’s Roasted & Salted Marcona Almonds with Rosemary.   Secret Menu gift subscriptions are ready and waiting.    Hit us with your feedback, your Thingies noms! 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq!   Download the (free!) Zocdoc app and book that doctor’s appointment you’ve been putting off. Take a break with Dipsea’s hot ‘n heavy audio stories—you get a free 30-day trial when you use our link. Get your romance-movie fix with Redeeming Love, out in January. Treat the skin on your body right with Esker and get 20% off with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

Caroline Moss, host of the podcast Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!, brings joy to everything she does, and we’re jazzed to ride her wave of holiday-giving enthusiasm straight through December and into 2022. Another thing we’re taking into next year is our new mantra: What happens if you don’t?   Julie Houts did the wonderful new illustration of us ya see in our podcast art! You’ve gotta check out her Instagram! Ooh, and shop her prints!   Related content: Erica waiting for Claire in fitting rooms.   If you don’t listen to Caroline’s podcast Gee Thanks, Just Bought It! yet, you’re in for a treat. Our Black Friday ep with her could be a good starting point. Don’t sleep on her gift guides either—or the book she co-wrote Hey Ladies!: The Story of 8 Best Friends, 1 Year, and Way, Way Too Many Emails.   Caroline’s go-to Hallmark holiday movie: The Christmas List.   A few holiday giving initiatives Caroline supports and you can too (like, this year—not at all too late!): Operation Santa (there’s a doc, Dear Santa, about it, even) and Transanta.   Vulture on the Christmas ep of Ted Lasso.   Re: Venmo and taxes, this Forbes piece.   “What Mutual Aid Can Do During a Pandemic” by Jia Tolentino for The New Yorker.   Tell us all of your thoughts! At 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq!   Secret Menu six-month or one-year gift subscriptions are very much a thing. Get thicker, healthier hair with Nutrafol. Your first month’s subscription is $15 off with the code ATHINGORTWO. Try Printfresh’s perfect-for-gifting sleepwear—and get 15% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Give professional counseling a shot with BetterHelp—10% off your first month with our link. Scoop up Ana Luisa jewelry during their biggest sale of the year—60% off on the second item you purchase with our link.  YAY.   Produced by Dear Media

What an episode we have in store! We’re going deep on some of our favorite recent discoveries from our Monday newsletter—which: If you aren’t signed up for that thing, now's your chance to fix that.   The usefulness of the term bitch eating crackers (BEC) (for context: Someecards).   Celebrity memoirs as audiobooks: Inside Out by Demi Moore, Acid for the Children by Flea, and Yearbook by Seth Rogen (see also: this profile by Jonah Weiner for NYT Magazine). Next up: My Life So Far by Jane Fonda, Faithfull by Marianne Faithful,  The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. Oh, and: the podcast Celebrity Book Club with Steven & Lily. Also: Please read Open by Andre Agassi and J.R. Moehringer!   Important breaking news: There is now Spelling Bee merch.      Let’s hear Claire’s QVC pitch for the Pattern mist spray bottle!! Somewhat related: Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater...as a hair product?   Erica’s 11 a.m. tea go-to: Soul Chai. Another (slightly sweetened rec): Dona.   A workspace-changing Philips Hue light strip. You may also like: Gorilla mounting tape, Storage Theory Power Perch, and the Pretty Handy Girl video for changing your doorknobs.   Jewelry renovation with Spur = talk about amazing.   You know we love to hear from you! Get us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq.   Didya know we do six-month or one-year Secret Menu subscriptions? Ideal for gifting, tell you what.   Find your body skin type with Esker and get 20% off with the code ATHINGORTWO. Control your coffee and tea temp with Ember. It’s 10% off for first-time purchasers with our link. Snuggle up with Printfresh’s perfect-for-gifting sleepwear—and get 15% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Score Ana Luisa jewelry during their biggest sale of the year—60% off on the second item you purchase with our link.  YAY.   Produced by Dear Media