That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs

Y’all know I love a meeting- whereas most people say “that meeting could have been an email” I tend towards “that email could have been a meeting”... so this is the one time a year I feel like we get to have a meeting. Which brings my soul joy. Epiphany is when I get to stop the show for a minute and instead of you listening to an episode of TSF, you are listening to what is going on behind the sc...

What an actual treat to get to talk to Eddie every single month this year... listen for an update on if he's going anywhere?! And also... a special update on his robe situation. We also talk lots of minutes of serious about marriage, friendships, and of course the new Wicked movie. I think you'll enjoy this last show of the year! . . . . . Find the TSF Seasons Guidebook at anniefdowns.com/seasons....

There’s something really profound to be said about the changing of a season—winter, spring, summer, fall—but even more so—there’s something profound about actually realizing which season you’re in emotionally, physically, and spiritually. To pay attention to your season raises some important questions... Where is the hope in the winter? What’s blooming in and around us in the spring? What kind of...

My friend Matthew West is here and I loved this conversation! We catch up about work, life, and his new book, Come Home for Christmas. I love that we get to continue our Advent conversations with friends we trust like Matthew and I’m grateful we get to walk into Christmas with the help of his pastoring voice.  . . . . . Find the show notes here Want to watch this episode on YouTube? Head on over t...

Anthony O'Neal is a financial expert, but today he’s not only helping us think through the vision of how to use our resources, but really the big vision of who’s around us to help us get where we want to be spiritually, relationally, and financially. I love that we’re ending the year here, because it really sets us up well as we think about what kind of 2025 we want to have. Single Purpose League,...

My friend, Danielle Kartes is here and she’s bringing us the Christmas season food tips (and just all around fun) that we need. We talk about her journey from selling make up to becoming a regular on the Kelly Clarkson show. Her story is full of hard work and hope, and you do not want to miss her hilarious story at the end about... a cherry tomato.  Danielle is an author, recipe genius, and entrep...

My friends, Jen and Jami are here and we’re reviewing Great American Family Christmas movies! Did we create our own rating system?! YES, YES WE DID.  If you want to watch these too, check your local listings for Great American Family or download the Pure Flix app to stream them. You can find all the info at pureflix.com. And don’t forget, we created a bingo board for you to fill out while you watc...

Today on the show, I get to talk with the king of whimsy himself, Bob Goff. This is his third time back to That Sounds Fun and he’s always a good friend to us and a really wise voice we can learn from. His new book Catching Whimsy is a 365 day devotional challenging us to intentionally live a life full of kindness and wonder and, of course, some whimsy too. He shares stories of visiting prisons in...

Today on the show, I get to talk with my long-time friend Lanier Ivester. I’ve known her for 30 years and I don’t think I’ve talked publicly much about my grandmother’s book store, but Lanier worked there growing up, so this conversation was so sacred to me—to relive some of those memories, to get to talk about my grandmother AND THEN get to talk about the Advent & Christmastide season, which y’al...

Today, December 1st, kicks off Advent, and you know how I feel about ADVENT! I have absolutely zero chill that we finally get to start our Advent series with a ton of you today. We truly have been talking about this one and planning for this one for a long time.  Today is the only day we’re going to share our Advent series here on the That Sounds Fun feed, but if you listen along and decide you wa...

Name a better way to spend Thanksgiving than listening to a conversation with our pal Eddie Kaufolz. We’ve been recapping each year of the past 10 years with Eddie and can you believe we’ve made it to recapping 2023? LAST year?! Except we barely mention it... we mainly just catch up, talk Thanksgiving traditions and food, invent the term "travel robes" LOL, and you don't want to miss where you can...

Sadie Robertson Huff and I talk about what it looks like to figure out a next step forward when you feel stuck, Her lifestyle devotional called, The Next Step, released last week and y’all are going to love it! This would be such a great gift for a girl in your life who’s trying to navigate a “next thing,” whether that be a new semester at school, figuring a job change, or taking steps towards som...

Today is the official birthday of That Sounds Fun. Ten years ago today, the first episode released. Yes, of course we’ve been celebrating all year, but I couldn’t let the actual day of the start come and go without pausing and giving thanks, for you and with you.  This podcast also opened the door for my first ever show at the Ryman Auditorium- truly a dream come true. Over 2,000 of you were in th...

A Little Women’s Christmas is a contemporary retelling of the beloved classic novel, and it follows the lives and loves of the March sisters in a small Tennessee town at Christmas. It was filmed here in Franklin, TN and your girl AFD got a small cameo in it! I can’t for you to see. Today, we’re sitting down with 3 of the cast members: Laura Osnes who plays Beth March, Julia Reilly who plays Amy Ma...

Strahan Coleman is a teacher at Practicing the Way, founder of the ministry Commoners Communion, AND he’s an award-winning musician. He lives in New Zealand with his wife and three young boys and in his latest book, Thirsting, Strahan poetically explores how to rediscover and fulfill our deepest desire through communion with God. We talk about how his chronic illness and losing his ability to sing...

Lisa Bevere is one of those wise, mothering voices we all can learn from—strong and full of wisdom—and today we’re talking about being empowered women running after God. Her latest book The Fight for Female is out now so you’re going to hear all about it and hear why this was the book that was needed for our generation of women right now, in 2024.  . . . . Other topics include miscarriage and infa...

Y’all get ready, because today I get to talk with my friend, Ellen Skrmetti—one of my favorite follows on Instagram. I bet you love her too…she makes those “Hey Jesus, it’s me,” videos…and she’s just as funny in person as she is online. Her southern humor is just spot on in the bless-your-heart kind of way and I laughed so much during this conversation. We did a real deep dive on how her comedy ca...

Who else absolutely LOVED the book The Best Christmas Pageant Ever growing up? It was one of my favorites and tomorrow it’s coming to the big screen, and we get to talk all about it today with Dallas Jenkins, who directed the movie, and his wife, Amanda. Y’all know them and love them already because Dallas is the director of The Chosen, but I’m telling you, I’ve cried BOTH times I’ve seen this scr...

You may remember Bethany Joy Lenz from One Tree Hill (she was Haley James Scott on the show), but today she is being generous with her story of faith and freedom and identity, as she talks about the journey of finding herself in a cult, the manipulation she experienced, and the empowerment she found to break way from it all. She shares even more of this story and the destruction narcissism can cau...

In case you haven’t been with us for a while, once a month we’re recapping each of the last 10 years in honor of the 10th anniversary of That Sounds Fun, so this month, we’re recapping 2022... but what we actually do is talk about anything else. Today we talk big about the World Series and (mainly Shohei Ohtani), Lin-Manuel Miranda, AI, and water because why not.  Also, let us know on Instagram wh...

Learning how to be a person of faith in 2024 seems very challenging and the center of a lot of conversations these days. Today felt like the perfect time to talk to my friend Phil Manginelli about what's going on in the world, in the US, in our faith, and where those all meet. Phil equips churches and organizations teaching internationally on navigating the cultural landscape of a post-Christian w...

We're going there today! My friend Ryan Wekenman and I talk about how to help our churches and pastors understand how to serve the single people in their church. Ryan’s a pastor at Red Rocks Austin and he’s also the author of Single Today, which came out earlier this year. We also talk about finding contentment and being present in your current season, finding community, and permission to change y...

One of my BFFs, Danielle Walker, is back and this is her 5th time on That Sounds Fun, so you know what that means, right?! HALL OF FUN induction.  Her new cookbook is called Make It Easy: A Healthy Meal Prep and Menu Planning Guide and I’m telling you.. If you’re already building your Christmas wish list, put this on it. Especially those of you who like a meal prep plan. She’s got you covered. Y’a...

When the Advent season rolls around every year, the theme that always leads the way is waiting with anticipation. Waiting with excitement because the birth of Christ is near. But sometimes that’s hard because Advent is ANOTHER season of waiting for a lot of us. How do we level up excitement and joy around WAITING when it feels like waiting is our whole year? That’s why we’ve created Stay Tuned: An...

Today we get to sit under the wisdom of a mothering voice who understands long obedience in the same direction. What a gift. If you don’t know her already, Darlene Zschech is a Christian music LEGEND. She's an acclaimed Australian composer, worship leader, pastor, author, and speaker who helped pioneer the modern worship movement in the Church from the 1990’s onwards. Her new album “Testament” mar...