This week’s grab bag includes clearing a path for love, the country-music equivalent of The Great British Bake Off, beige rice, and, ya know, lots more.    Are you watching My Kind of Country? Start with Dhruv Visvanath’s cover of “Ring of Fire."   Shout out to Chalo cowboy boots and this Brie Larson cover story for Harper’s Bazaar for styling inspo.    Sam Youkilis’s Instagram brought the topic of cutting citrus back to the podcast. See also: Priya Krishna and Connie Wang’s essays about cut fruit as a culturally Asian love language.    An idea: Joe Holder’s one-week-a-month reboot.    Cosigning a Jill Singers Thingie, The Rice Factory New York.   Liana Satenstein’s piece in Vogue about Donna Karan gave us the Y2k fashion we want to embrace.    Share your thoughts about today’s ep with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! 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.   Level-up your underwear with SKIMS Fits Everybody and get free shipping on orders over $75. Drink water like never before thanks to air up. Get the best of both worlds, tasty flavors, and all the benefits of water today at https://airup.link/3nNRCZ7. Make that garden grow with Fast Growing Trees and get 15% off your entire order with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY. Produced by Dear Media  

If you’re a new listener curious about our ~lore~, you’re in luck! But before we discuss us, let’s talk about you and some of the Thingies you’ve been evangelizing about on Instagram.   Moisturizing agents recommended by listeners include Dior Creme Abricot, Olive & June Overnight Hand Treatment, Dr. Hauschka Lip Care Stick, Weleda Skin Food, Everyday Oil, Brazilian BumBum Cream, Ouai Body Creme, Tubby Todd, Summer Solace Tallow, Lucas’ Pawpaw Ointment, and tinted ChapStick. (Wait, sorry, did we know about custom ChapStick??)    Also you all shared beauty products we’d never heard of before, like Kate McLeod Sex Stone, Nicole Caroline Facial Ice Sphere Kit, Londontown Kur Illuminating Nail Concealer, and The Ordinary Brow Serum.    Earrings you can sleep in! From Maison Muri and Hey June. Also: clear earring backs for napping!!   What else are you obsessing over? Keyboard-cleaning goo like this stuff from Kikkerland, stain removers like Savon de Marseille and Grandma’s Spot Remover, and salad dressings like the ones by Little Creek Dressing and the Gotham Greens Green Goddess.    People feel strongly about Oofos—are they the new Crocs?!   Our favorite Thingie of all? Bringing tea on a walk, leaving the mug in a random bush, and picking it back up later. Iconic.   Share your Thingies with us at  833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! 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.     This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Get professional counseling with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link. Give your hair an assist with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO. Tune into to Bad on Paper—if you like this podcast, you’ll like that one. YAY.    Produced by Dear Media  

This week, we’re covering pressing and important moments in culture (the Scandoval), products of innovation (seam rippers), gifting strategies, a revelatory cookbook all about leftovers, and a topic we can not let sit any longer: cute postage stamps.     If you’re new to the Vanderpump Rules Cinematic Universe, we highly suggest Sexy Unique Podcast as a viewing companion.    Message Monsters stamps by Elise Gravel, a children’s book author, are available on foreverstamps.net.   Museum Gel will secure breakables from gentle earthquakes (toddlers running around the house included).    To have your leftovers world rocked, we recommend The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z by Tamar Adler, which is a companion to Love An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace.   Do you have a gifting plan? Thoughts on the Scandoval? Share with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! 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.   Try out professional counseling with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link.   YAY. Produced by Dear Media

May we discuss manicures, messes, and the intersection between manicures and messes and the social pressure to present as *having it all together*? Let’s go.   On gel manicures: Uché Blackstock is going to keep getting them, and Claire is too—but now with Maniglovz to protect her hands from those UV lights (and with CND Shellac whenever she can).   For a one-coat at-home mani, Olive & June Cosmic, Pleasing Pearly Tops, and Dior Glow deliver a shimmery, sheer finish. A listener said Dazzle Dry is one of their Thingies, and multiple of y’all have called-out Londontown Kur Nail Concealer (

Karla Welch, celeb stylist and co-founder of The Period Company, is here to talk Thingies, from life-changing books to an L.A. bagel worth a one-hour wait. Also, we dig into distraction…and deleting social-media accounts.    Re: the impact of social media on our societies, ourselves: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier (and Zach Baron’s GQ profile of Jaron), Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (and David Marchese's NYT Mag interview with Cal, and (what’s new?) Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.    Get your Karla Welch fix via her MasterClass on personal style and by shopping The Period Company, which now available at Walmart.   Karla’s Thingies include Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Marie Brown (which made us think about Saving Time by Jenny Odell), Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, her client Sarah Polley (see also: Sarah’s film Women Talking and her New Yorker profile), Rhode peptide lip treatment, the NYT Cooking app (follow this IG account for the full commenter experience), Erewhon’s strawberry glaze smoothie, and Courage Bagels in L.A.    Share your Thingies (and dream Thingies guests) 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.   Get that protein and fiber with Hero Bread—10% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Go plant-crazy with Fast Growing Trees and get 15% off your entire order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Listen to Bad on Paper—if you like this podcast, you’ll like that one. YAY. Produced by Dear Media  

If you’ve been asking “Why aren’t more podcasts talking about Magic Mike’s Last Dance and Girl Scouts?” you’ve come to the right place. Shall we??   What do the critics have to say about Magic Mike? Here’s Shirley Li at The Atlantic, Emma Specter at Vogue, A.O. Scott at the NYT, Richard Brody at The New Yorker, Bob Mondello at NPR, and Kyle Smith at the Wall Street Journal.    Channing’s look right now! Specifically this Met Gala pic and this Variety cover! He and Zoë Kravitz share a stylist, Andrew Mukamal (who was featured on Kell on Earth—see also: this Interview interview with Kelly Cutrone).     If you’re into the business side of Magic Mike, check out WSJ’s story “For Magic Mike, Channing Tatum Looked for Strippers Moms Could Love.” As for Channing’s other creative projects: Sparkella, Born & Bred Vodka (more from BonApp), and the much-hyped romance novel he’s writing with Roxane Gay. (Unrelated but also totally related, Tessa Bailey’s reverse-harem romance Happenstance.)     Oh, Girl Scouts, preparing girls to meet the world with courage, confidence, and character since 1912! We love the logo redesign by Collins, and if you need a cookie source, buy them from Troop 6000, a first-of-its-kind program designed to serve families living in temporary housing in the New York City shelter system, or from trans girls around the country.    Another scouting org we love: Radical Monarchs, which creates opportunities for girls and  gender-expansive youth of color—this doc is great.   Share your Magic Mike reviews 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. Try out professional counseling 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.   Get more out of your bread with Hero Bread—10% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Sleep well with Boll & Branch—get 15% off your first set of sheets when you use the promo code ATHINGORTWO. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

Our two new favorite terms and a bunch of thoughts on what to eat (such a conundrum, always, why?), coming at you on this week’s episode. Dig in!   Ok, food things: We’re big fans of the the Food52 Simply Genius cookbook (and Food52 Genius Desserts, too) by Kristen Miglore. To start, try the 5-minute tomato sauce from Heidi Swanson (which reminded Claire of this slightly more complicated sauce she had last summer) and Canal House’s chicken thighs.   Some other cooking wins: this polenta soup recipe from Christopher Kimball, oven-fried artichokes, Ali Slagle’s cheesy white bean tomato bake, and Toro Bravo's radicchio salad with manchego vinaigrette.     This Eater story by Jaya Saxena speaks to our love of tiny spoons and brought this amazing T-shirt to our attention.   Let us know your tiny spoon stance 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. Level-up your bread with Hero Bread—10% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. Get that MBA with The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. YAY. Produced by Dear Media

This week, we’re talking Thingies with Rachel Seville Tashjian Wise, fashion news director at Harper's Bazaar and creator of the coolest invite-only newsletter on the block, Opulent Tips. Also, we bring you more CRINGE.   To ride the cringe wave, check out this perfect Julie Houts post, Yasi Salek and the podcast Bandsplain (friends, the T-shirt), and the newsletter Club Leftist Tennis’s installment “Tennis is for Weirdos” by Kate Wagner. Also, NYT’s misread of cringe.   Rachel’s Thingies: hats (including ones from The Hat Shop, Amy Downs, and Gigi Burris), collections of strange objects (see also: Leanne Ford’s Feel Free mag), the weird Hitchcock movies like Vertigo (for more good blond wigs: Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express), designers who are creating wardrobes (including Toteme, Casey Casey, The Row, Sofie D'Hoore, Lauren Manoogian, 7115 by Szeki, Lafayette 148—read Rachel’s story for more on this!), and this profile of Judith Thurman along with her book, Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller.   Some other things discussed: the Isaac Mizrahi doc Unzipped, the brands Puppets and Puppets and Luar, the Lydia Tár Twitter account, Spur Jewelry’s usage of close friends, and Etéreo Vintage.    Have thingies you want to share? 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.   Try our beloved ecomm platform, Shopify, and get a free 14-day trial with our link. Explore an MBA with The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. Get more out of your bread with Hero Bread—10% off your first order with the code ATHINGORTWO. YAY.   Produced by Dear Media  

Hello, this is she! Today we’re reaching into a grab bag filled with TVs, social omnivores, room dividers, and favorite internet follows.    For more on the social omnivore, check out this Bon Appétit article by Ali Francis.    Room dividers have come a long way—see: Lichen, The Inside, Sarah Ellison's for DWR, and Sight Unseen’s round up.   Delightful follow number one: Emily Sundberg and her newsletter Feed Me. She wrote "Whole Milk Mounts its Triumphant Comeback" and "Welcome to the Shoppy Shop" and recently surfaced this 2019 interview with Kevin Systrom by Stella Bugbee, too. (Related-ish newsletters: After School by Casey Lewis and Public Announcement c/o Chris Black and James Ellis.)   Number two: Delia Cai, whose debut novel Central Places is out now—*please* see also: her IG for the book, her Twitter account, and her interview on this pod. (Other v specific IG follows: @smallbizmemez and @dankartdirectormemes.)   Number three: the financial-literacy TikToker Seema Sheth aka Bobeema and her financial cleanse series. Speaking of $$ stuff, Carl Nassib’s compound interest lesson from Hard Knocks and Women and Money by Suze Orman.   Finally, this tweet (by Lily Marotta, co-host of the Celebrity Book Club podcast) transported us.    Where is the TV in your home? How you you answer the phone? 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. Look into getting an MBA with The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. YAY.  

Break out the headphones because have recommendations for those looking for audio-based catharsis, starring revenge songs and an insightful podcast about grief. Also: We’re redefining our relationship with restaurants and asking men to start paying more attention to the parenting discourse.   Some ideas for your next revenge playlist: “BZRP” by Shakira, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift, “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Gaslighter” by The Chicks, “Love Yourself” by Justin Beiber, “Cherry” by Harry Styles, “Irreplaceable” by Beyoncé, “You Oughta Know” by Alainis Morrisette, “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, “Kerosene” by Miranda Lambert, and “I Hope” by Gabby Barrett.    We also highly recommend you check out the discography of Beverly Glenn-Copeland.    More for your ears: Anderson Cooper’s podcast All There Is. Start with the "Anticipatory Grief" and "Molly Shannon’s Unspeakable Loss" episodes.    If you’re in NYC and looking to redefine your restaurant experience, try Gjelina for bfast, Wagamama for lunch, and Joe’s Shanghai—or your Michigan Stars—for dinner.    On the current state of social media: Kyle Chayka’s New Yorker piece “The Year in Apps I Gave Up On.”   We want/need your thoughts on vintage! Share them 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 is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give professional counseling a go with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link.   Support your hair with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO.   Explore an MBA with The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business.   YAY.   Produced by Dear Media