Bad On Paper

With almost a full year of quarantine life under our belts, we’re checking in with each other on how we’re feeling, what’s giving us hope, and how we are staying motivated to do anything more than watching Netflix. Grace shares more about her season of self-improvement and Becca talks about how big projects are giving her quarantine a sense of purpose. We’re also talking about the activities that are keeping us busy (puzzles!) and what we’ve been watching during our nights in.   We want to hear about your quarantine feels (and distractions) in the Facebook group!   TV and Movie Recs:   Bridgerton The Bold Type The Flight Attendant Ted lasso Schitt’s Creek Saved By the Bell reboot Pretend It’s A City (Fran Leibowitz docuseries) The Undoing Lupin Money Heist Ready Player One Crazy Rich Asians   Read in a Day Book recs:   Thrillers: Anything by Megan Miranda, Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen, or Liv Constantine 28 Summers and The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand The Mall by Megan McCafferty Snowfall of Silver by Laura Wood Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover   Instagram: @vp  @flotus Obsessions: Lupin Scam Goddess Podcast Alit Winery Barefoot Dreams Blanket What We’re Reading: Untamed by Glennon Doyle Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee The Lynching by Laurence Leamur Infinite Country  by Patricia Engal (our March 2) The Mothers by Britt Bennett The Beach Club by Ellin Hildebrand People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (our May 11) The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano February Book  If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha Sponsor: Betterhelp: Get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/badonpaper. Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

Today we are joined by Elizabeth Gilbert the New York Times best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love, City of Girls, and (of course!) our January Book Club pick Big Magic. We talk about her decision to write Big Magic and the writing process behind it. She shares her unique perspectives on creativity and how every person can find and grow in that space. She talks about staying actively (and not-so actively) creative during the pandemic, ditching social media for the greater good, and learning how to be kind to yourself. If you have been needing some motivation this is the 2021 pep talk you have been waiting for! More Elizabeth Gilbert: Join the Onward Book Club! Elizabeth Gilbert on Youtube Elizabethgilbert.com February Book    If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha   Sponsor: HBO Max: Use our link (http://hbom.ax/badonpaper) for HBO Max's promo offer where new and returning subscribers can sign up for a limited-time "Prepay and Save Offer" to save 20% when prepaying the first 6 months of an HBO Max subscription. Restrictions apply. Uncommon Goods: To get 15% off your Valentine’s Day gifts go to uncommongoods.com/bop. Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

We found it fitting that Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert was our first book club of 2021. Becca reads this book every January to jumpstart her year, and we wanted to include you on her tradition. Reading this book is the creativity pep talk we all need so badly right now. Elizabeth approaches creativity with lightness and joy. Even if you don’t consider yourself a creative person, you will take so much away from this book. We touch on each chapter and our biggest takeaways and share our own journeys with creativity. We love this book (can you tell?) and we hope you did too! Tell us your thoughts in the FB group and join us tomorrow for a bonus episode with the author!   If you liked Big Magic:   Daring Greatly by Brenè Brown Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit by Steven Pressfeld Like Brothers by Mark and Jay Duplass Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott   Instagram: @ninetypesco @Jazmynjw Obsessions: Thirteen Lune What We’re Reading: Heavy by Kiese Laymon On Writing by Stephen King If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha The Lynching by Laurence Leamer The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano February Book  If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha Sponsor: Betterhelp: Get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/badonpaper. Misen: Go to misen.com/bop for 20% off your first order. HelloFresh: Go to hellofresh.com/10BOP and use code 10BOP to get 10 free meals and free shipping! Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

In today’s episode we are joined by Azora Zoe Paknad, the founder of Goldune. Before starting Goldune in the middle of the pandemic (in the short span of 5 months!), Azora Zoe worked for Food52 and before that, she was Grace’s social media intern at BaubleBar! She has worked in the ecommerce and content space for years and when quarantine started she got to work and started her own e-commerce site, selling the best sustainable homewares. Azora Zoe shares the intense process of building a company and her personal journey to this point. We talk about reusable straws, food storage tips, product swaps and shocking recycling facts. Do you know what a soapberry is? Neither did we! We got a crash course in sustainability and we hope this helps you find little ways you can make changes in your everyday life that will work towards a healthier planet.     More Zoe: @goldune.co instagram Goldune.com  Use code BOP for $10 off your first order   Zoe’s Recs:   Kosas Big Clean Mascara Nature First Laundry Pods @pattygonia  @intersectionalenvironmentalist @katieboue Noap  - Plastic Free Shampoo and Conditioner  Hand blown glass straws  Biodegradable Sponge, Scrub + Brush Set Earth911.org   Instagram: @__flowerwitch @thegoodcarmablog  Obsessions: ChappyWrap A Discovery of Witches Show Leonore Doc Martin Boots What We’re Reading: Heavy by Kiese Laymon The End of Her by Shari Lapena Layla by Colleen Hoover The Blue Bistro by Elin Hildebrand Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams January Book  Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Sponsor: Night: Go to discovernight.com and get 20% off with code BOP20 at checkout. Betterhelp: Get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/badonpaper. Prose: Go to prose.com/BOP for your free in-depth hair quiz and 15% off your order. Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

It’s the time of year where we reflect on past resolutions and create new ones for the new year ahead. As we look back on the insanity of 2020 and the way that it affected our goals and ability to achieve them, we found some silver linings! Although we are definitely cautious as we set our 2021 goals, we’re also optimistic. We talk about our personal, business, and mental and physical health resolutions and the steps we are taking to get there. Whether you like to make resolutions or you just like to wing it, we support it! If we learned anything in 2020, it’s that this year needs to be about being good to yourself.   11 Goal Setting Apps - help keep you on track!   Instagram: @galisonpuzzles @zillowgonewild Obsessions: Ouidad Leave-in Conditioner Bimble - CBD Seltzer code GRACE for 20% off What We’re Reading: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Perfect on Paper  by Sophie Gonzales (out in April) The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren (out in May) Musical Chairs by Amy Poepple Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon January Book  Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Sponsor: The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins Misen: Go to misen.com/bop for 20% off your first order. Care of: 50% your first order at takecareof.com with offer code BOP50 at checkout. Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

We’re back with our first episode of a brand new year! To kick off 2021 we are joined by Kelley Knight, author of Spells for the Modern Mystic Ritual Guidebook and Spellcasting Kit. Kelley is bringing mysticism into the mainstream, and we are here for it! We chat about her own psychic awakening, building her business, and her freakiest predictions. She does a mini tarot reading for each horoscope sign to see what lies in the year ahead. We also have a bonus January reading for those Virgos and Libras like us! We even learn a quick cleansing spell to clear out the bad the vibes that 2020 left behind.   Don’t know your sun sign or your rising/ascending sign? Visit Astro.com and all you need is birth location, date, and time.    More Kelley Knight: Modernmysticshop.com @modernmystic_shop Modernmystictarot.com Spells for the Modern Mystic Ritual Guidebook and Spellcasting Kit Spells for the Modern Mystic Intensive   Instagram: @sharonsaysso @shitbloggerspost Obsessions: Death to 2020 on Netflix Plant Juice Oils - Doze off Sex and the City Worthy Threads Tie Dye Sweat Suit Electric & Rose Work out Sets Ted Lasso What We’re Reading: A Promised Land by Barack Obama White Ivy by Susie Yang This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens Admission  by Julie Buxbaum The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins People Like Her by Ellery Loyd An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin What would Frida Do? by Arianna davis Winter Street by Elin Hildebrand
 28 Summers by Elin Hildebrand
 A Snowfall of Silver by Laura Wood
 Finlay Donovan is Killing it by Elle Cosimano
 The Stationary Shop by Marjan Kamali January Book  Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Sponsor: Night: Go to discovernight.com and get 20% off with code BOP20 at checkout. Betterhelp: Get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/badonpaper. Hello Fresh: Go to hellofresh.com/10BOP and use code 10BOP to get 10 free meals and free shipping! Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

For the last book club of 2020, we chose The Cousins by Karen McManus. This is a twisty YA thriller, sans murder - making it kind of the perfect book for both of us! This is the tale of Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story: three cousins who barely know each other but are invited to work at their estranged grandmother’s resort. All of their parents have been disinherited and the cousins learn more and more about the dark secrets of their family’s past. We chat about which cousins we relate to most, our theories about the ending, and our interest in the psyche of the adult characters. We both really enjoyed this book and we hope you did too!   Join us in the Facebook group and let us know what you thought!   More Non-Scary YA Thrillers: One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus One of Us is Next by Karen McManus Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth   Obsessions: Algenist Liquid Collagen Kosas sport lip balm Mario Badescu Lip Balm  Chameleon Cold Brew Coffee Ample Hills Peppermint Pattie Ice Cream Other Products Mentioned: Blundstone Boots What We’re Reading: Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee A Promised Land by Barack Obama Star Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia White Ivy by Susie Yang Pretty Things by Janelle Brown Swear on this Life by Renee Carlino The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow January Book Club: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Sponsor: Night: Go to discovernight.com and get 20% off with code BOP20 at checkout. Betterhelp: Get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/badonpaper. Hello Fresh:  Go to hellofresh.com/80BOP and use code 80BOP to get $80 off your first box and free shipping! Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

2020 is coming to a close and we are not going to let this year end on a negative note. There were really some great things about this year (politics and pandemics aside, of course). In this episode we talk about our biggest professional and personal accomplishments this year and all of our favorite purchases. We reminisce about our favorite episodes of the pod this year, our favorite books, clothing and beauty purchases and all of our favorite ways that we self-cared our way through 2020.   Grace’s Post: I don’t want kids … and that’s okay!    Best Overall Purchase of 2020: Grace’s Dining Chairs - Vintage Marcel Breuer Cesca Chairs via 1st Dibs Brightland Olive Oil Fridge Lazy Susan The SoulCycle Bike   Favorite Clothing Purchases of 2020: Pandemic Pants from Old Navy Aerie corded oversized sweatshirt (Quarter zip version; original is sold out) Eileen Fisher Tunic Sweaters Ralph Lauren Blazer Vuori Joggers Amazon Fleece   Favorite Beauty Purchases of 2020: Dr. Bader Face Cream San Tropez Self Tanner Prose: prose.com/BOP Ilia Mascara Saie Mascara   Favorite Home Goods of 2020: The air-fryer   Favorite Books of 2020:   Grace: One to Watch by Kate Stayman - London The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet The Last Flight by Julie Clark The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead Becca: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi One to Watch by Kate Stayman - London The Boys’ Club by Erica Katz Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal Open Book by Jessica Simpson (audiobook)     Favorite TV Shows of 2020: The Undoing  The Queen’s Gambit The Politician Season 2 Hollywood Never Have I Ever Dash and Lily   Favorite Movies of 2020: The High Note 1917 Nancy Meyers Movies   Favorite Recipes of 2020: Alison Roman's Sour Cream Flatbread Oh She Glows Cream of Tomato Soup Julia Turshen’s Turkey Meatballs with Ricotta Instagram: @the.sattva.life Obsessions: Robinhood Investment App  Virgin River What We’re Reading: Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee A Promised Land by Barack Obama  This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens The Star Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan Christmas At the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan A Snowfall of Silver by Laura Wood A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood December Book Club: (Episode out Dec 16th!) The Cousins  by Karen McManus Sponsor: Prose: Go to prose.com/BOP for your free in-depth hair quiz and 15% off your order. Betterhelp: Get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/badonpaper. Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

How is it possible we’ve never done a holiday episode?! Let’s fix that starting… now! In this episode we talk about our favorite holiday traditions, how we decorate, our fave holiday foods, and, of course, the best movies and books to get you into the holiday spirit. We also share our favorite small businesses that you should know about for gift shopping this holiday season!   Join us in the FB group and tell us your favorite small businesses!   Holiday Movies: Elf The Christmas Contract A Christmas Inheritance A Christmas Prince Love Actually  The Holiday The Holidate The Princess Switch 2 Christmas with a Prince   Holiday Books: One Day in December by Josie Silver We Met in December by Rosie Curtis The 12 Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan   Small Business Recs: Grace: Beauty: Indie Lee, Follain, Klur, Luv Scrub, Woo Me Beauty
 Food: Trufflin Hot Sauce,  Red Clay Hot Sauce Jewelry: Nicola Bathie, Holst + Lee, Candyshop Vintage Clothing: Nightire, Worthy Threads
 Lifestyle: Dusen Dusen fashion towels, Chappywrap Blanket
 Etsy:  Luma and Co
 Candles: Sensual Candle Co
 Home: Rebecca Atwood

   Becca: Brooklyn Candle Studio
 Food: Serving New York Book,  Flatiron Pepper Company
 Clothes/lounge: Printfresh Robes,  Recliner Pajamas, Phenomenal
  Etsy:
 Fat Pom Poms , Delancey Collective
, Doebello,  Jill Makes  Gift Idea: Ideal Bookshelf

 Gift Cards: Local restaurants, bookstores   Instagram: @jewelrybyoliviak @homecoming  Obsessions: Frasier Fir Candle Studs.com Madewell candle in rosewood cedar What We’re Reading: The Cousins  by Karen McManus Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds The 12 Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee The Talented Miss Farewell by Emily Gray Tedrowe This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens December Book Club: (Episode out Dec 16th!) The Cousins  by Karen McManus Sponsor: Night: Go to discovernight.com and get 20% off with code BOP20 at checkout. Betterhelp: Get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/badonpaper. Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.

Today we are joined by Diksha Basu, the author of our November Book Club pick, Destination Wedding. We are so excited to get the inside scoop on this book! Diksha is an author, former actress, and academic from New Delhi, India, and she now divides her time between New York City and Bombay.    We explore what ‘home’ means to her, and how that influenced this book. She shares her unique writing process, starting with character development before plot. We also talk about our favorite character (Tina, who we want to be our BFF) and our least favorite (Marianne) and the inspiration behind them.    More Diksha: @dikshabasu  on twitter @Diksha_basu on insta Bookshop.org to buy her books  Please send her a message if you liked the book! Favorite Indian Authors: Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi Favorite Pakistani Authors: Moth Smoke by Moshin Hamid Moni Mohsin Rohinton Mistry Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth   Join our FB group for amazing book recs & more! Like and subscribe to RomComPods. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit Grace’s blog, The Stripe. New posts daily! Follow us on Instagram @badonpaperpodcast. Follow Grace on Instagram @graceatwood and Becca @beccamfreeman.