2AM Reckonings

Amrutha spoke at Crooked Con ! Sheila fan-girled on Deven Patel . We’re creating new traditions for Diwali and it’s gonna be great. LOVE AND LIGHT! Love us? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yourfriendontheground.substack.com/subscribe

Is it just us or is the rest of the year spoken for? Our calendars are giving us anxiety. Sheila is going to Diwali prom. Amrutha is dressing up the dogs for Halloween and hosting a Diwali X Día de los Muertos. Pics next time! We’re confused about Karva Chauth but hey, to each her own . Short episode because Sheila’s voice is shot🫖 Substack editor made us look like sisters and we don’t totally ha...

What has Diwali become? A content opp? A ladder for social climbing? An opportunity to come together? THERE’S ALWAYS THE TEMPLE! Feeling left out? Please don’t. Throw your own South Asian party! Doesn’t have to be for Diwali! Love & light🫶 Alexis Bittar serpent side handle clutch Hindu festivals explained on IG by a bonafide Indian grandmother Diet Sabya Diet Paratha If you liked this podcast, we...

Will update with more links and photos as they come in but for now, MVPs: Roam expandable carry-on Patagonia Terravia 22L daypack Patagonia merino-blend long sleeve Anker mobile power bank Our Macs Adventure itinerary Il Cellario di San Donato in Poggio Special thanks to all of you who joined our live; more to come!🫶 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers o...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit yourfriendontheground.substack.com Our first dedicated episode for our INVESTED AUDIENCE🫶. Filtering conversations about parenting. Trade offs. Freedom. Grappling with the reality that you cannot have it all and THAT IS OKAY. Changing your mind: always an option! Thank you for tuning in for our first paid episode — more to come! Consid...

It is not spritz o’clock and we are not okay. Sheila’s harried flight out of Florence. Live streaming your journey so you don’t fall asleep in CDG. Amrutha’s now an expert at hauling a 45 pound bag up 11th century staircases. The post-trip social media hangover. Is touching grass the solution? Where should we go next? Would you come with? If you liked this, do us a solid, scroll down and smash tha...

UPDATED: due to WiFi issues, this episode cuts out around 8:00. Feel free to enjoy unvarnished shots of our armpits until then. Lancer moisturizer . Lancer tinted sunscreen . Quince washable silk slip dress in mink taupe (limited edition) . Nuuly . Osteria le Sorelline . Il Chiostro del Carmine . Portrait Firenze . Four Seasons Florence . Thanks again to MACS ADVENTURE , what a time! Let’s run it...

Chaos prevails. Swigging Aperol spritzes in a fourteenth century convent . Happy hour’s from 17:00—23:00. These nuns go HARD! Plot twist: Sheila skipped the third hike in favor of a much needed nap and some R&R . Amrutha thugged it out, thugged it through as only a thug will do. All told, we’d do it all again and we wouldn’t change a thing. If you liked this, do us a solid, scroll down and smash t...

Il Cellario . Tomasso Iorio . Another delightful B&B. “ Salt: a World History .” Sheila’s inapprops hiking monologues. Sleeping like a windshield wiper (sounds like the title of a FloRiDa song). A resplendent breakfast buffet. Say we did this again … would you come? Let us know in the comments! If you liked this, do us a solid, scroll down and smash that heart button? That helps this post and podc...

Day three with Macs in Tuscany ! Welcome to chaos. The lawn guy’s doing his thing. The dog’s barking. The mosquitos are BITING. We gotta make this quick because a man named Valter is picking us up by the rooster statue to take us to Il Cellario but we will be back with more details tomorrow, promise, love you, mean it! If you liked this lil’ ditty, do us a solid, scroll down and smash that heart b...

Bear with us, the WiFi is down and we’re posting from our phone which is also being used to play Money Ain’t a Thang (as happens). Florence B&B: Casa Tintori . Radda B&B: Palazzo San Niccolo . Florence store where Sheila bought a new outfit: Rivertrend . Trip planned and plotted by Macs Adventure . Will add more links when internet comes back up. Thank you for riding with us! Get full access to Yo...

Is it okay to conversationally vape? What about in a meeting? What about on a plane? (NEVER.) Our take on the great iced coffee in an interview debate . Uber amounts of Acqua di Gio. Credentialed degenerates at the wedding. Best of the Best . Bollywood dance competitions IRL. Sheila reflects on her wedding pandit and wonders if she should’ve called the Purple Pandit instead. We’ve gotta pack for I...

The forced intimacy of flying — like being on a date with a total stranger, except you don’t talk to each other and there’s no hooking up at the end (probably). Should we do an episode on in-flight etiquette? How about etiquette in general? What’s YOUR flying pet peeve? Amrutha’s dogs are ballin’ like they’ve got a trust fund. The supremacy of Tex-Mex. San Antonio is kind of like New Orleans witho...

Sheila doesn’t have water. The humanity! Is renting better than owning, or are we just nostalgic for the more irresponsible days of yore? Amrutha went to Denver and embraced long, sunny hikes and 9pm bedtimes. Sheila went to Napa and fell asleep after wine tasting No. 2 or 3. The case for a life admin assistant. The case for media literacy. If a man claims to be a NFL player then hits you and the...

IS Labor Day weekend REALLY the last weekend of summer? We’re wearing white whenever we damn well please. Are color charts inherently flawed? Sheila’s heading to Napa. Amrutha’s going to Denver. We yap it up with our first ever guest, Aparna Shewakramani, the breakout star of Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking and the author of She’s Unlikeable: and Other Lies That Bring Women Down . What’s she up to la...

Sheila’s got a fruit fly problem. Amrutha can relate. Why do we have to apologize for having long, thick hair that falls all over the place? We are trying to manage it, we swear! A weekend in Galveston. A weekend at San Ysidro Ranch . Is the most restorative vacation the one within driving distance? Does your partner HAVE to watch your Instagram Stories or can they mute you since they’re front and...

Gen Zs are getting tattoos with their parents’ blessing — can you IMAGINE? The things we would’ve done with that kind of freedom. We had to fight for our lives for thong underwear from Victoria’s Secret … and for WHAT? Awfully uncomfortable, those V-Strings. Amrutha’s a professor now! Can we go back to college? We promise we’ll show up to class. Sheila tells all about her experience with IVF. We’r...

ABOUT US: Welcome, friends new and old! Allow us to reintroduce ourselves. Our origin story. Our walk out songs, what we dance to when no one’s watching, and what made us move and groove in our youth. Wild nights in Washington, DC. Olestra and a tale of its consumption that went very, very wrong. A janky NYC sublet where the power went out on a 100 degree day in July. Speaking of New York: is it t...

We’re not ready for masseter Botox —  did you hear what happened to Hannah Berner? The horror! — but Sheila’s digging medicube and might need Amrutha to try it too. Sheila tells all about the opulent Greek wedding she went to in Ios. Is the first night of a wedding weekend always the best? American vs. European glamour. Cruising has its benefits … and some drawbacks. Still processing. Sheila’s lat...

Sheila’s in Greece and letting jet lag take the wheel — for a moment! A nap on a daybed at Calilo just feels right . Amrutha gave a hammam another try and she’s so glad she did. We debate the merits of morning Starbucks vs. brewing your own coffee and wonder why anyone would blow up their relationship on Ultimatum . Would we ever do reality TV? Amrutha’s got a show in mind … Do you have questions...

We’re back! Amrutha went to Turkey and came back smitten. The caves. The beaches. The hot air balloons! Sheila thought she knew Cabo but then she went to Las Ventanas al Paraíso and … 🤯 From the villa to the food to the wine to the SPEAKEASY, it’s another level. Why don’t Hindu vegetarians like mushrooms? We have some theories. (We’d love to hear yours.) The “hack” of people washing their underwe...

Amrutha’s in San Diego for a conference and enjoying the serenity of NOT staying at the conference hotel. More time for diversions, such as a jaunt to La Jolla where Sheila caught this sunset a couple weeks ago: Private planes vs. Frontier Airlines. Is it just us, or does travel feel like The Hunger Games ? The amount of information we’ve uploaded to the cloud is staggering … and what if it all ca...

We debate the ordeal of going out for lunch vs. crushing a sad desk salad. Dishwasher unloading habits, and what they say about us. Sheila went to the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe and found that its bar is nothing like what its cozy cottages would lead you to believe. Amrutha’s getting her first curly girl haircut. We unpack the two glasses of wine that “ruined” Steven Bartlett and wonder whether the im...

Sweating after the post-workout shower. Dips in a bracingly cold sea. Beaches you can drive onto, with your dogs! Walking book clubs. Why is there never enough space on airplanes? When the TV version is better than the book. Is sleep the ultimate luxury product ? We’re trying to unlock our way to the next level of restfulness, and here’s what we’re using: Moonjuice Magnesi-Om Hatch alarm clock Bea...

Sheila traveled 24 hours to reach Mali Lošinj, the Croatian “island of vitality” that more than lives up to its moniker. She’s teaching at the Adriatic Writers Conference and hopes her class is up to snuff. Amrutha went to an adult slumber party with a blessedly simple dress code. We’ve got many, many thoughts about The Crash , the polarizing Netflix documentary. How much of what’s on your phone c...