Not Without My Sister

Life as a journalist – and a woman with an above-average BMI – has led Rosemary to try a LOT of fad diets and fad workouts, from running on a treadmill in a wetsuit with suction pipes attached to it (yes, really) to enjoying a mid-morning snack of a single strawberry and three almonds, she's truly tried it all (so you don't have to). Not to be outdone, Beatrice has also indulged in her fair s...

Are you a New Year's resolution-maker? Or do you baulk at the thought? Have you ever achieved a goal you set out to achieve – or do you give up (like most of us, honestly) before the end of Jan?! We talk New Year's resolutions and how excellent we are at making (and keeping) them on this week's minisode. You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe&...

We've all made fashion mistakes – some greater than others. What are our biggest clothing mistakes, and what are our style must-dos? (As if we have a clue…) You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe and you’ll find us both on the podcast Instagram @notwithoutmysister. Our Facebook page is here! For show notes, sporadic blog posts a...

To stay in – or to go out? (This is a perennial question, and more to do with one's philosophy in life than anything else – i.e. we know no one can go out right now. IT'S A PANDEMIC! Stay in, stay safe, happy Christmas xo) You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe and you'll find us both on the podcast Instagram @notwithoutmysister.&nbs...

What makes a Christmas tradition? How do you know what to compromise on, when it comes to creating new traditions with a new family? (In other words, how can you just make everyone want to do the things that YOU want to do, at the most wonderful time of the year?! HERE ARE OUR THOUGHTS! You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe and you’ll fi...

We know, we know – we promised you our full rundown of Wild Mountain Thyme, surely a shoo-in for Best Picture at next year's Academy Awards. Alas and alack, with the news that WMT wasn't going to be released in the UK and Ireland for a few weeks yet, we thought we'd wait and bring it to you (avec spoilers) when we can all truly engage in the conversation. Instead, join us as we talk Christmas gift...

When the trailer for 2021 Oscar nominee (and probably winner) Wild Mountain Thyme spread like wildfire around Irish Twitter, we just knew we'd have to talk about it on the podcast – and talk about it we did! Catch our reaction to the trailer right here, right now – and come back on Dec 18th for our post-film digest. We. Can't. WAIT. You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatr...

It's our 21st birthday! Here we are, lining up, just waiting to have the head kissed off us! This week we chat PARTIES – ours, other people's, good parties, bad parties, good party guests, bad party guests and why you should never, EVER invite Rosemary over. She'll eat all your bread, bring three random friends and then fall asleep on a pile of everyone's coats. You can follow Rosemary on Instagra...

From Our Bodies, Ourselves to Judy Blume's Forever, our favourite books during adolescence have something VERY obvious in common. But what else did we read, over and over again? What book would we recommend to the young 'uns today? And does Rosemary have an original thought in her head? So many questions. You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe...

Oh, and fall we have. In this episode, we – sisters Beatrice Mac Cabe and Rosemary Mac Cabe, Kildare natives who've upped sticks to live in the American Midwest – discuss all the many times their bodies have betrayed them by, er, falling over: breaking limbs, splitting noses and ruining any chance of romance on a barren isle. Things we mention in this episode include: The super famous B&B on t...

Everywhere we go, people always ask us – how DID your Mum and Dad come up with those stunningly original and perfectly appropriate names? (Who HASN'T seen a tiny baby and thought, she looks like a Beatrice?) So we're answering that burning question in this week's minisode. You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe and you'll find us both on...

What is a romantic gesture? Are they EVER really romantic? What's the most romantic thing we've ever done – and what's the most romantic thing we've had done unto us? We get into marriage proposals, talking teddy bears, bunches of flowers being delivered to work AND MORE in this no-holds-bars look at that ol' chestnut: ROMANCE <3 You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatr...

A follower suggested that we talk about Ireland's best nightclub – so we began speaking about nightclubs and, er, well... What are YOUR memories of Irish country nightclubs? Have you, like Beatrice, been turned away due to your unconvincing fake ID? Have you, like Rosemary, committed identity theft in order to dupe the bouncers into allowing you into their fine establishment? You can follow Rosema...

In this thrilling, stunning, amazing new episode of Not Without My Sister, we're talking all about birth: the how of it, the why of it and the never-again of it, with actual examples from four real-life birth experiences from Beatrice, while Rosemary speculates wildly, sharing her bizarre theories related to C sections and maternity leave. The book Beatrice references (which, FYI, she does not rec...

A few weeks ago we answered a follower's question: what are your favourite things about one another? Well, Beatrice would like to revise her answer... You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe and you'll find us both on the podcast Instagram @notwithoutmysister. Our Facebook page is here! For show notes, sporadic blog posts and ass...

Can you keep a secret? Can we? And what's the difference between keeping a secret – and telling a convincing lie? We're chatting about all of the secrets we've kept (or not kept), and wondering what our ability (or inability) to keep schtum says about us. Demi Lovato and Max Ehrich have broken up! Sacha Baron Cohen stayed in character for 5 days while filming Borat 2 (is that a secret? or a lie?)...

We'd love to be able to say that we watched Emily in Paris so that you don't have to, but sorry — you do still have to. Let us know your Emily-in-Paris-related thoughts on Instagram, on our Facebook page or wherever you want to come sliding into our DMs! Jumping the Shark, a high-brow definition (from Wikipedia) Taken, the worst film ever made The Hook-Up Plan Call My Agent Are there urinals on th...

This pandemic – and, you know, being stuck in the house – has really got us thinking about all of the things we once called hobbies. Do we still have them? What is it that we enjoy, other than doing jigsaws and drinking wine? Has Rosemary ever found a hobby that she's managed to keep up? (The answer is no.) You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemacca...

A listener asked if doing our podcast was bringing us closer together as we learn more about one another – but have we ever kept anything from one another?! (Has Rosemary ever kept anything from ANYONE?!) You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @beatricemaccabe and you'll find us both on the podcast Instagram @notwithoutmysister. Our Faceboo...

They say that breaking up is hard to do, but as it happens we think it's harder to have done unto you – and EVEN HARDER to absorb reasonably and with anything approaching dignity. We get into the weeds of our most embarrassing breakups, and the times we begged the men in question to take us back... over and over again. Some day we may do an episode giving advice on how to deal with a terrible...

The age-old question (if you're a terrible narcissist): who would play you in a movie of your life? We trawl through our feeble memory banks to see which celebrities' names we remember and then choose from that very short list to see who we'd like as our celebrity representative. All topic suggestions always welcome! You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemarymaccabe; Beatrice is @bea...

We've all done our fair share of job interviews – but what have we learned? And what do we say when asked what our worst traits are?! Sisters Beatrice and Rosemary Mac Cabe sit down to talk about their interview experiences. Some that were good, some, er, that resulted in someone walking out of the room. Plus: the job Beatrice lasted less than 24 hours in before walking out due to her principles....

For a short, thrilling period, Rosemary made her living as an influencer (noun): one who takes money for the shilling of stuff on social media. (That definition may or may not have been directly taken from the Oxford English Dictionary.) But what did Beatrice and the rest of their family think about Rosemary's career pivot? What's it like to be the nearest and dearest to someone whose life is live...

As self-confessed cry babies, Beatrice and Rosemary know a thing or two about crying: on the street, in the office, on those frustrating occasions when people throw pennies at your face… We sit down this week to chat about crying: the politics of it, the gendered nature of opinions around crying, whether or not you should ever cry at work – and how you should react when someone else does. We'd lov...

What's the biggest – or worst – fight you've ever had with a sibling, and how did you recover from it? Well hello and welcome to the weekly Not Without My Minisode, a weekly miniature dose of ridiculousness courtesy of sisters Rosemary and Beatrice Mac Cabe. Today we're answering a listener who asked: what's the biggest argument we've ever had? You can follow Rosemary on Instagram @rosemaryma...