Coming at you today, a 2022 favorite starring two topics we’re still struggling with: So you picked a travel destination…and then what? We’re sharing the (only somewhat insane!) steps we take and the resources we love for planning a vacation. Also: Let’s spend a moment discussing the late nineties/early aughts trends that are re-catching our eyes and the ones we think we won’t wear again.  Some reflections on the Miu Miu skirt ℅ this NYT article “Brief Encounters With a Micro Miniskirt.”  When thinking about trip-planning, this Harvard Busiess Review article on "The Hidden Traps in Decision Making" and this installment of Val Monroe’s newsletter came to mind. We love scoping out hotels on Welcome Beyond, Tablet Hotels, iescape, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (hot tip, their write-ups of what to do nearby will also point you toward good sites, shops, and restaurants). We also check out the press section on a hotel’s website, see if they’ve won any awards (which led Erica to amazingplaces.cz for Czech Republic recs), and use TripAdvisor and Instagram location tags to see some realistic photos of each hotel. For rentals, we search Airbnb and Vrbo reviews for terms like “noisy,” dig into host profiles for other properties, and remind ourselves that you can reach out to hosts with Qs. Our favorite guides come from Goop, Curbed (like "The 21 Best Things to Do in Milan If You Love Design") Eater, Sight Unseen, Remodelista, Afar, Here, Fathom, Stranger’s Guide, and New York mag’s “Steal My Vacation", and Cabana. The physical Wallpaper* City Guides are great, and 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Shultz is a satisfying book to have + mark up.   Are you embracing the Y2K revival (slash Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts looks)? Share with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! 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. Find more weeknight dinner recipes at Pillsbury.com.  Find wellness on your next stay at Westin. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

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! 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. Paint your nails like a pro with Olive & June and use the code ATHINGORTWO for 20% off your first Mani System. Trust Shopify for all your ecomm needs and get a free 14-day trial with our link. Give your hair an assist with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Find wellness on your next stay at Westin. Head back to school with an MBA from The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

Get in, bitch, we’re going…to talk all about cars, with a sprinkling of Thingies that are regrettably worth it.  Some regrettably worth it submissions from IG (and our brains) include Skims (related from The Cut), sleep consultants for toddlers, law school, putting your phone in another room after 8 p.m., professional framing, going to Ikea, getting your shoes repaired at Leather Spa (see also: New York Sneaker Society), peeling chickpeas, and stretching.  Do you love car washes as much as Kris Jenner, who compared the experience to Disneyland? Car accessories that peak our interest include the car trash can, car tweezers, elevated car air fresheners (featuring DS and Durga, Three Potato Four, L:A Bruket, and Hello Adrienne), and, last but *certainly* not least, CarLashes. Meghan Palmer’s That's so Interesting Newsletter gave us some great insights into car conversations. What are your favorite car listens—songs, audiobooks, all of it? Share them with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!  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. Get some support with professional counseling from BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Shop for groceries with Thrive Market and take 30% off your first order plus snag a free $60 gift when you use our link Thrivemarket.com/athingortwo Become a green thumb with Fast Growing Trees—15% off your order when you use our link. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

We share our (hot?) takes on stickers and The Notebook; we share yours on your younger selves and Pioneer Day. This week’s past-selves quotes come to you via Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didian and this profile of Ryan Gosling in GQ by Zach Baron. The Notebook—James Marsden also has thoughts, ℅ this W mag profile by Evan Ross Katz. Related-ish: Roger Ebert’s own love story ​​"Roger loves Chaz." Stickers! Sandylion on Etsy, @stickerarchive, Red Bubble's nineties collection, and the Xyron Create-A-Sticker, for starters.  Let us know if you’re watching 1883 at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!  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. Try professional counseling with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Find wellness on your next stay at Westin. Level-up your garden with Fast Growing Trees—15% off your order when you use our link. Start hiring now with a $75 sponsored-job credit to upgrade your job post at Indeed. Produced by Dear Media YAY.

Today we’re diving into *your* Instagram Thingies submissions, rain clogs (yes, again), parenting stuff, and—wait for it—cotton-candy burritos.  We learned about cotton-candy burritos via Amy Sedaris’s wonderfully random IG account. Who’s opening that Creamberry franchise?  Two most popular Thingies right now: Checking out cookbooks from the library and the Owala FreeSip water bottle. Speaking of beverages, y’all have many ideas, including ice-cold Lillet Blanc with frozen orange slices, a Hugo spritz (prosecco + elderflower + soda water), a homemade Arnold Palmer, and a matcha lemonade (a close personal friend of said Arnold Palmer).  Re: golf, Malbon’s collab with Nike (see also: Laura Reilly’s Magasin newsletter). Re: rain clogs, Calzuros, for your consideration. And do we all know about the AIGA Eye on Design blog? In your good-news corner: Brentwood Country Mart’s celebration of Ninja Dave's retirement from UPS. Related: that Man Repeller style profile of their USPS guy, Aubrey Dowridge. CORN! SeaVees shoes, Fernando Laposse wood, Shucked, fresh corn mochi cake c/o Food Network (paired with all the corn soft-serve we’re seeing), and Corn Kid content (the original viral video here; its musical remix here). Finally, if you’re in NYC, do yourself a favor and see Alex Edelman’s one-man Just For Us on Broadway. (Related-ish: the romance novel A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee.) What Thingies are you loving right now!? Share with us at  833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!  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. Give your hair a boost with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Find more weeknight dinner recipes at Pillsbury.com.  Find wellness on your next stay at Westin. Take advantage of the Partner to Empower program for entrepreneurs of color from Brookfield Properties—apply by August 11. Watch your garden flourish with Fast Growing Trees—15% off your order when you use our link. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

This week, we’re talking all things PMS and the many, many joy-givers in our lives. Shout-out to this ep’s sponsor, Jubilance, the most advanced scientific PMS mood relief supplement. Yes, that’s a thing—one that you can try by heading on over to jubilance.com/AThingOrTwo or using the coupon code ATHINGORTWO at checkout. Kicking things off strong with the TikTok Taylor Swift Albums as Period Flows Pt. 2, which reminds us how major it was when Kotex used red liquid instead of blue and when Always got a ton of credit for showing…a red dot (more on the bluid from The Atlantic).  PMS can get worse as you age—and is tied to mental health stuff. More on that from Health.com and Romper. Happy, happy vs. joy, joy?? Reading c/o a Psychology Today interview with Dr. Pamela King, Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee by, and Inciting Joy by Ross Gay.  The hot bunny account: @officialaqibra. What brings YOU joy? Share with us at  833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! Want more recommendations??? Try out a Secret Menu membership! 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. Try Jubilance for $10 off by visiting jubilance.com/AThingOrTwo or use the coupon code ATHINGORTWO at checkout. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

Coming through with some thoughts on the intersection of friendship and ambition, covered wagon core (not to be confused with cottagecore!), and ~summer movies~. Following up on our Wilder conversation, we’d like to discuss covered wagon core. See Kim K.’s CR Fashion Book spread “The Pioneer Woman,” Rudy Jude, Salter House, and making jam.  Re: actual covered wagons, Conestoga does a luxe wagon and a bar wagon, both, and Pioneer Woman has a roundup of campgrounds with covered wagons. Rainesford Stauffer’s “We Should Be Ambitious About Our Friendships” for Elle sparked our convo about friendship ambition—she’s also the author of An Ordinary Age: Finding Your Way in a World That Expects Exceptional and the new All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive.  We love this tweet about friendship discussion agendas. As for books, this topic calls to mind Courtney Martin’s The New Better Off, Kayleen Schaefer’s Text Me When You Get Home, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman’s Big Friendship, and Hua Hsu’s Stay True.  On our TBR list: Sheila Liming’s Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time. (In the meantime: “The Case for Hanging Out” by Dan Kois for Slate and The Ezra Klein Show episode "The ‘Quiet Catastrophe’ Brewing in Our Social Lives.")  Bring on the summer movies! Obsessed with Past Lives, itching to see Theater Camp, Joy Ride, Problemista (see also: I Want to Be a Vase by Julio Torres), Red, White, & Royal Blue, Challengers, and, of course, Barbie (all the prophecies, including Margot Robbie in Vogue and Greta Gerwig in Gentlewoman, whet the appetite). Do you have easy, low-pressure ways to keep up with friends? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.    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. Turn to Shopify for all your ecomm needs and get a free 14-day trial with our link. Find more weeknight dinner recipes at Pillsbury.com.  Take advantage of the Partner to Empower program for entrepreneurs of color from Brookfield Properties—apply by August 11. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

Cottage cheese, pimento cheese, and us bringing our trademark cheese??? Cottage cheese—"whey cool," per the WSJ; a forever classic, per us. Skip the TikTok recipes and try this savory Bon Appétit salad or this (also BA) horseradish dip. If you’re in NYC, get yourself to Dimes for the breakfast Papaya D’Lite. (Somehow related: charred Mexican zucchini recipe.) Calling all pimento cheeseheads: We rec Callie’s and Zingerman’s, wanna try this NYT Cooking frittata, and got a real history lesson from Serious Eats.  It’s a life-hackathon, and the winners are the sticker produce thing, Option-Shift-Command-V and keeping stain remover in the bedroom (see also: Miss Mouth’s, savon de Marseille, and Soak). All hail long vacation lunches! If you happen to be in Paris, get yourself to Glou and Mokonuts. Some community Thingies submitted via our Instagram: Taylor Swift Lyric Sporcles, Famous Amos cookies (um, this, ℅ the History Channel!), and the Nili Lotan Brady tee (file under: regrettably worth it).  What’s regrettably worth it in your life? Do you have a family apple? Share with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership. 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. Treat your hair to Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Find more weeknight dinner recipes at Pillsbury.com.  Get your groceries with Thrive Market and take 30% off your first order plus snag a free $60 gift when you use our link. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

It’s time to revisit some ghosts of podcasts past, from rain clogs to private creative practices to an incredibly detailed review of an electric flosser.  Our discussion of fun sports experiences is ongoing thanks to the Savannah Bananas, an exhibition baseball team that’s a must-follow on Instagram and TikTok. More on their founding story via WBUR.  A morning-pages follow-up: Wendy MacNaughton created a DrawTogether 30-day Drawing Habit Experiment Challenge as a visual companion/alt. A quick hospice aside: Check out her forthcoming book How to Say Goodbye and the new release The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos R.N.   A IG Thingies contributor recommended Plasticana mules as a summer rain shoe. And speaking of summer moisture, our listener Carly suggests battling mosquitos with Tougher than Tom Mosquito TNT. Report back? On a private writing—or any creative!—practice, this Hanif Abdurraqib’s tweet thread. Looking for a gift? May we suggest some of the items we are obsessing over, like Cat’s Cradle (see also: this TikTok), a Slate Flosser, Message sandals, and the Forme bra.   Can’t shut up about the podcast Wilder! It digs deep into Laura Ingalls Wilder (good and bad) and made us think of this classic 2007 Jezebel piece by Lizzie Skurnick. Let us know your flossing philosophy at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership. 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. Give professional counseling a go with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Perfect your at-home manicure with Olive & June and use the code ATHINGORTWO for 20% off your first Mani System. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

Another 2022 crowd-pleaser coming at you! We road-tested a whole slew of the Thingies recent guests recommended, and we have much to share! Join us for this and some extremely entertaining voicemails responding to our question “What’s the sorority version of ‘praise and polish?’” From our episode with Rumaan Alam, Claire was inspired to listen to the audiobook version of Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, and Erica has been using Fitbod (but only doing the exercises she wants to).  Thanks to Harling Ross Anton’s recs, Erica’s gotten indigestion aid from Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice (DGL).  Claire took Kelly Wright’s suggestion and subscribed to Ronny’s Seltzer (which is a great supplement to her at-home Aarke seltzer maker).  Erica’s been very into Jessica DeFino’s The Unpublishable newsletter, which Val Monroe raved about. A great installment to start with: Bella Hadid's Old Nose. Related content: The Glossy Podcast and the newsletter After School. Whose Thingies picks do you want to hear? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership. 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. Nix PMS with Jubilance and get $10 off with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY. Produced by Dear Media