Best of Both Worlds Podcast

It's another Q&A Mailbag episode! Topics are wide-ranging and fun, from travel tips (because someday we will travel again!), toy recommendations, postpartum fashion advice, postwork rituals, and conversation starters for your kids at dinner. Show sponsor: Sweaty Betty - for Power Leggings and more! Get 20% off your purchase by visiting http://sweatybetty.com/bestof and use code "BESTOF" at checkout! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SHU opens up about her family's experience with COVD-19 and subsequent quarantine. Everyone is currently doing okay as this airs, so her story has a hopeful ending! She shares their story, from getting test results to being on home lockdown over winter break (and beyond). In the Q&A, a listener writes in about home office space, and Laura and Sarah share ideas for finding private areas to work when both parents are having to stay out of the way of kids + a child care provider. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the intro, Laura and Sarah talk about current weekend days with kids. Then guest Simone de Munoz joins Sarah to chat about balancing her own life and work as a nonprofit analyst who also wrote her debut novel coming out next spring! Her novel is a thriller novel called Manflu about a pandemic and a vaccine scientist -- and oddly enough it was started pre-COVID! She was able to finish it during the pandemic despite being home with her two children! Her book comes out in March 2021, and in this episode she delves into her experience with the writing process, crafting her career in the non-profit sector, and also a bit about life with an au pair. In the Q&A, Laura and Sarah answer a listener question about planning things like vacations in a new year with some uncertainty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's an annual tradition - Laura and Sarah get together to review 2021 goals! Yes, this year may look different, but there are still lots of interesting things to pursue and think about. While it didn't come as easily as in years past, Laura and Sarah identified goals in the areas of work, family, personal, and relationships. If you're looking for ideas, hearing some of the goals in this episode may help! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year was like no other (understatement!) and so Laura and Sarah take some time to review the lessons learned under the circumstances. They discuss newfound habits, those new baby days, and much more. From red wine and dairy to puzzles and hikes, they delve deep into the things that made 2020 different and what they plan to carry on into the new year. In the Q&A, Laura addresses a listener's question about pregnancy in one's 40s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Sarah and Laura share their favorite childhood gifts, and then move on to some general tips around gift giving and gift shopping. Learn how Laura keeps her gifts organized with 5 kids to shop for, and how she makes extended family gift giving simple but still lovely. Sarah discusses the challenges of 8 nights of Hanukkah, plus contending with kid and parent birthdays around the holidays (both families have them!). Finally, both share their gifting standbys, from toys that withstand the test of time to colleague, employee, and friend gifts. In the Q&A, a listener writes in about going to leadership "lunch and learns." To go or not to go? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Laura and Sarah open up this episode by talking about some big news -- Laura is moving (though not very far!). She discusses how they made their decision while Sarah shares her family's plans to remain renters indefinitely. Then, Laura welcomes guest Ahlia Kitwana, founder of Little Black Buddha, a new company that helps people through career transitions. Ahlia is also a mom of three and an engineer. She discusses how she's combined work and life (including her appearance in I Know How She Does It!), what nudged her to go out on her own, and her advice for others contemplating a similar move. In the Q&A, a listener writes in with a common dilemma - whether to go back to work post-baby even when childcare costs rival her salary.This episode is sponsored by Fiverr and Eby. For 20% off your first Eby order, visit joineby.com, and use code WORLDS20. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The tables are turned, and now Sarah gets to ask Laura some of the same fun (yet revealing) questions, and also adds in some different ones! Laura reveals the inner core of her middle school self, some little known intel on the family pet, her most-eaten meals, her thoughts on the various stages of parenting, and also gets to allocate a theoretical $1M gift. There is an unexpected tangent into science and anthropology that is quite interesting, too!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We decided it would be fun to share interviews with each other -- so you can hear some varied content, some of it light and fun and some of it more unexpected! In Part 1 of this series, Laura interviews SHU, and Sarah discusses many things, including what she was like in middle school, early career aspirations, what makes up her perfect vacation, and where she would distribute a (theoretical) $1M charitable gift.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, attorney and mother of 3 Colleen Blanco shares her story about her experience with giving birth at 24 weeks and her subsequent NICU journey, including an emergency evacuation of the entire neonatal unit during Hurricane Sandy! She describes the challenges and celebrates the wins. Her story is powerful, and we hope it might help others going through anything similar. To stay slightly on-theme, Sarah and Laura address a listener question from an OBGYN about batching work tasks (esp piled up notes). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.