Friendlier

The new year is often a time to evaluate old routines and establish new ones. We share our feelings about routines in general, what routines we have in our lives, our routine aspirations, and routine fails. AND we are getting ready to put new groups together for the Friendlier Reading Experience where we’ll connect you with four or five other listeners to form your own virtual bookclub. If you are...

We reflect back on 2018 , look ahead to 2019, and share some of our favorites from the past year. Visible Child article on graciousness and corresponding Facebook group Black Panther To All the Boys I've Loved Before The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel The Good Place The Great British Baking Show Kindred Bravely maternity underwear Tub shroom Bumble Ride Indie Twin LL Bean slippers Life lately Abby is offic...

We take a look back at our reading life in 2018: our challenges, our wins, and our favorite books of the year. We’d love to hear your favorite books of the year! Fiction Sarah: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Abby: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Fr...

Graceful quitting We share why neither of us are quitting averse, our most memorable quitting (and not-quitting) moments, quitting regrets, gracefully quitting relationships, and our thoughts on quitting books and television shows. Freakonomics episode on The Upside of Quitting Twitter thread about setting boundaries Life lately Abby successfully completed her longest solo-parenting stretch to dat...

With the holidays upon us, we thought it would be the perfect time to take a step back from the madness and discuss simplicity. We share how we try to find it in our schedules, stuff, relationships, and holidays. Resources we mention in this episode: Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne Cohesive Home podcast Minimalist Moms podcast Joshua Becker Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingsto...

Naming humans In honor of Abby's announcement, we wanted to share how we chose our children's names, our naming styles, names that got away, and our favorite naming resources. Appellation Mountain Swistle Nameberry One Bad Nugget Facebook Group (must be a member of the One Bad Mother FB group to join) Baby Name Wizard Name Voyager Life lately Abby has big news: she's pregnant! Sarah is on a spendi...

We're going meta with this episode and talking about podcasts: what we love about them, when we listen, and all our favorite shows. We'd love to hear your favorite listens so we can add them to our rotation! Shows we mention: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text NPR Politics Girl Next Door Food Psych (some favorite guests include: Lindy West , Fiona Sutherland , and Alan Levinovitz ) Death Sex and Mon...

Friendship logisitcs Way back in Episode 14 we talked about friendship, but we wanted to revisit the subject with a focus on how we maintain friendships and how that's changed since becoming parents. Life lately Abby shares her family's new toilet paper: Who Gives A Crap ! Sarah is reveling in how much smoother the school year transition has been compared to last year. Reading lately Abby has more...

We discuss how we approach food with our kids, what our dinnertime routines look like, and family favorite meals we didn't expect. Links and resources mentioned: Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating resources: Food Psych podcast Ellyn Satter Institute The F*ck It Diet Body Positive Panda on Instagram Keekaroo high chair Curry potatoes and eggs Lentil loaf Life lately Sarah's happy to be reuni...

From hair (we both have so much!) to skin-care (what exactly is a toner anyway?), we share our style and beauty routines and how they have changed over the years. We'd love to hear which aspects of beauty and style are worth the effort for you, and which aren't. Links featured in this episode: Photo on Tumbler that features this quote: "In a world that profits from your self-doubt, liking yourself...

We share details of our summer--the good, the bad, and the never-do-again (I'm looking at you, split red-eye flight with a toddler). We cover our childcare situations, swim lessons, and the ups and downs of traveling with kids. Leave us a comment to share what worked (or didn't) for your family this summer! Life lately Sarah's loving using these new containers for her kids' lunches. Abby shares ho...

Kids and screens We talk about screens and media--what we watched as kids, how our families handle screen time, and our favorite resources and recommendations. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the issue and if you have any media we should be sure to check out. Screen Time as a Feminist Issue Lifecake app Babies OK Go! Sparkle Stories But Why? Brains, On! Life lately Abby has entered the world of...

Have you ever wondered how we produce Friendlier? Wonder no more! In this episode we share the backstory of starting the show (including our original failed concept), what we do to prepare for each episode, our recording set-ups, and the editing and post-production that gets Friendlier to you. We mentioned lots of links and resources, but if you have other questions please reach out; we'd love to...

We share how we made and continue to make decisions around at-home-parenting, what frustrates us most about the cultural narratives around these choices, and how we see things evolving as our kids get older. Life lately Abby recounts all of the effort that went into to setting up a rock box for Plum. Sarah is celebrating being two-toilet family again. Bathroom renovation, complete! Reading lately...

Since we are at the mid-point of 2018, we wanted to take some time to reflect and check-in on our intentions for the year . We share what is going well, what has challenged us, and what we hope for in the second half of the year. Life lately Sarah learned about the trait of high-sensitivity (thanks, Abby!) and read The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine Aron. Abby describes her plumbing woes. Readin...

We discuss our values around getting outside and exploring nature, how we are incorporating it in our family life now, and how we see that changing in the future. Links to things we mentioned: The best sun hat (for kids and adults!) Rain bibs Free Forest School Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather by Linda Akeson McGurk Life lately Abby completed some DIY ca...

We share our food philosophies, history with food, thoughts about thin privilege, and how important (or not) the social aspect of eating is for each of us. Here are the resources and links we mentioned this episode: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver Shrill by Lindy West Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Mea...

We walk you through the details of a day in our lives, what was atypical, and if it highlighted anything we'd like to change. Life lately Abby describes her plans for a royal wedding watch party. Sarah shares how terrible she is at choosing paint colors. Reading lately Now that we are both up to date, we talk all about our favorite mystery series: Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache . Eating lately S...

We chat about how we define balance, if our lives are balanced now, whether we feel over-scheduled, and favorite resources for getting back on track if we've gotten off balance. Listeners, we'd love to hear how you find the right balance in your life. Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne The Joy of Doing Nothing by Rachel Jonat Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Life lately Sarah's kids are now usin...

We share what makes for a good host, our favorite kinds of hosting, what we love (and don't love) about hosting, and our stance on hostess gifts. Life lately Abby loved having her sister visit for an entire week. Sarah is apparently the last person to discover audio on faster speeds. Reading lately Abby read This is How It Always Is , a novel by Laurie Frankel about parenting, marriage, and how on...

We share how closely we follow the news, our favorite (and least favorite) news sources, and our approach to talking about the news with our kids. We'd love to hear how you consume news and any favorite sources you have to share. We reference: 1440 The Skimm NPR Politics Podcast and Up First Raising Race Conscious Children Life lately Sarah shares about her family's spring break trip to St. Louis....

We discuss our philosophy around fitness, what we like to do for exercise, how we incorporate movement in our families, and what we do to get back on track when we're in a slump. Last year we talked about our participation in organized activities and sports, so if you'd like to hear more about that you can listen here . Yoga with Adriene Mr. Money Mustache on biking in the cold Life lately Abby me...

We have a lot to say about parenting—our philosophies, reflections on how we were raised, and what aspects of parenting we like best and least. We draw parenting inspiration from many resources, but here are the ones we mentioned in the show: Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Julie King RIE philosophy Life lately Sarah is anticipating...

This week we have a reprise of a previous episode: favorites . This time around we talk about favorite comfort foods, podcasts, french fries, and dates. We'd love to hear your favorites in these categories. Comment on our shownotes , find us on Instagram ( @friendlierpodcast ), or email us ! If you like our reading section, check out the Girl Next Door Podcast Book Club! Erica and Kelsey do a book...

We've both been with our spouses for more than a decade. In this episode we share what early marriage was like, how our relationships have grown over time, how adding kids to the mix has changed things, and what we love best about our partners.   If there wasn't enough relationship talk today, you can hear us talk all about our weddings in this episode from last spring. We'd love to hear your...