A Thing or Two with Claire and Erica – Details, episodes & analysis

We are THRILLED that cultural commentator/overall delight Hunter Harris—of Hung Up and Lemme Say This fame—is joining us today to share her Thingies! We couldn’t chat with her without asking for her takes on all the hot pop culture gossip, so unwrap your Fruit Roll-Up and enjoy!

Want more of Hunter? If you don’t already, subscribe to her must-read newsletter Hung Up and listen to her Wondery podcast Lemme Say This, which she co-hosts with Thingies alum Peyton Dix. 

Hunter’s Thingies are LMNT electrolyte drink mixes, Fruit Roll-Ups, lemon and orange essential oils in the trash can, Rhode Pocket Blush, washing her makeup brushes, iS Clinical Active Serum, and tennis.

She gets her news (aka celeb gossip) from Gossip Time, StraightioLab, Las Culturistas, Who? Weekly, and of course, Reddit influencer snark. 

Want to get in on the accidental Idiocracy x Crocs collab? Share your thoughts at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!

Oh, we are excited about this week’s Thingies guest! Get ready to dive into the mind of the inaugural 831 Stories author, Alexandra—AKA Zan—Romanoff. We gab with her about Big Fan, fanfiction tropes, Hanson, ocean swims, online vintage shopping, you name it.

Zan’s Thingies are Henné Lip Tint, Bask reef-safe sunscreen, Will Rogers Beach in Santa Monica, the Gem App, and the public library.  

Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff is out tomorrow, September 10. Grab a ticket to one of Zan’s LA or NYC events (we’ll be in attendance too!) and dive into the all of the book-universe bonus features (including an epilogue).

Get even more Zan: Read her YA books (Grace and the Fever is very Big Fan–adjacent) and listen to the pop culture + sports podcast she co-hosts with Sarah Enni, On the Bleachers.

More on Canadian Shack fics (um, delightful).

Also, we want to make sure you know that we are in the Jack Schlossberg/Miele fan club.

What’s your fandom of choice? Share with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva!

Follow @haagendazs_us on Instagram and let them know in the comments that we sent you! 

YAY.

Let this greatest-hits ep be all the proof you need that things are still a mess! Should you need supporting evidence, might we direct you to Leah Chernikoff’s recent article for Harper’s Bazaar on the topic?

On gel manicures: Uché Blackstock is going to keep getting them, and Claire is too—but now with Maniglovz to protect her hands from those UV lights (and with CND Shellac whenever she can).

For a one-coat at-home mani, Olive & June Cosmic, Pleasing Pearly Tops, and Dior Glow deliver a shimmery, sheer finish. A listener said Dazzle Dry is one of their Thingies, and multiple of y’all have called-out Londontown Kur Nail Concealer (<< the name!). For growth (and nail-biting-prevention), try Nailtiques. For setting yourself up for DIY success, arm yourself with  Olive & June dry drops and the brand’s clean up brush. 

We have a lot of thoughts about mess, and so do some other people. Dig into For Scale’s “Exquisite Chaos” installment, "Girl Clutter" by Molly Soda, “What If You Just Didn’t Clean That Up?” by Kathryn Jezer-Morton for The Cut, and “This Trend Is a Mess” by Callie Holtermann for NYT. For a listen, check out "How to Keep House While Drowning" on Terrible, Thanks for Asking with guest KC Davis, the author of How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing. 

Our convo also reminded us of the books All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior and In My Room: Teenagers in Their Bedrooms by Adrienne Salinger (a sampling of some of those pics here). 

And a retaliation to the white-box era we’ve been living in can be found on @officialsadbeige.

For a clustercore explainer, we’ve got Better Homes & Gardens. For primo examples, we always think of friend-of-the-pod Rumaan Alam and David Land’s collection of George Washington paintings in their dining room, and dip into Catherine Newman’s home tour on A Cup of Jo. 

Two messfluencers to know: Alix Earle and Julia Fox. 

On the topic of digital messiness, how many tabs do you have open right now? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! For more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

Get good hair with Nutrafol. Take $10 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO.

Hire with Indeed and get a $75 sponsored job credit when you use our link.

YAY.

Introducing our first rockstar guest, Margo Price! She shares her Thingies and talks about writing her memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It, which is a story of perseverance, tell you what. 

The fanny-pack discourse: We have an update on the Bandolier, a discussion of pockets ft. Véronique Hyland’s book Dress Code, and a pitch for goofier kids’ clothes inspired by this crewneck with a built-in fanny pack from All Small Co. 

What inspired Margo’s Maybe We’ll Make It? Patti Smith’s incredible Just Kids. 

Margo’s Thingies include T3 hair dryers and curling irons, Greater Goods CBD/CBN Evening Tincture, Thieves Oil, Acid for the Children by Flea, and two Nashville faves: A Shop of Things and The Continental. 

If you’re new to Margo’s music and want a place to start, hit play on "Pay Gap"...and get ready for a new album in January.

Do you have a dream Thingies guest? Thoughts about fanny packs you need to share? We’re ready for them at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

Destigmatize hair thinning by sharing your story at shedthesilence.com. 

YAY.

Produced by Dear Media

We're coming to you fresh from our high-school reunions, and there are lots of reflections ahead. On old friendships, yes…and also on dips, chips, and the controversial baby carrot.

Some condiments we’re excited about include Cabi sweet yuzu vinegar, umami dashi soy sauce, and zesty sansho peppercorn miso. We’re also loving Chicas tortilla chips, Burlap & Barrel black lime and Reem’s spice blends, Gjusta Goods marinated olive oil and herbed salt, Ella’s Flats, Zingerman’s pimento cheese, Gotham Greens pesto, McClure’s little pickles, and Breadblok almond thins. For more tremendous munching, head to Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River, Massachusetts (or, you know, online).

An iconic book of our teen years: Swell: A Girl's Guide to the Good Life by Ilene Rosenzweig and Cynthia Rowley. 

Do you have thoughts on reunions (or hot snack tips)? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

Give professional counseling a chance with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link.

Help your hair with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO.

Book that doctor’s appointment—today! Download the free Zocdoc app.

YAY.

Produced by Dear Media

We have an amazing Guest Thingies episode today with Jessi Hempel, prolific tech writer and host of the podcast Hello Monday whose new memoir The Family Outing you have to check out. Also: details about our blossoming relationship with TikTok. 

A TikTok follow for your pop-culture PR needs: @mollybmcpherson. 

The Family Outing! A memoir! If this description doesn’t suck you in: “By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer.”

A book that gets at the challenges of memory: David Carr’s The Night of the Gun.

An A Thing or Two rec that Jessi cosigns: this inflatable travel pillow for flying with a kid…but probably for lots of other purposes, too. 

Jessi’s Thingies: Potette (as she’s on a potty-training journey that rivals Claire’s), Cliq portable camping chairs for sitting…everywhere, Anne Helen Peterson’s Culture Study newsletter, and adding your pronouns to your email signature. 

Our conversation about returning to the office—RTO, y’all!—made us think of Delia Cai’s great piece in Vanity Fair.

Share your dream Thingies guests with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

Get your curly hair looking its best with LUS and take 15% off your first purchase of $50 or more with the code ATHINGORTWO.

Look into Allstate Identity Protection (your employer may offer it, even). Use our link for a 30-day free trial.

YAY.

Produced by Dear Media

Updates AND new topics? Wow, this episode really has it all. We issue a correction about Jibbitz, share some third-birthday gift recommendations, and present some alts for words like “affordable” and “expensive,” which are loaded (<< money pun).

PSAs! Secret Menu subscribers now have access to searchable archives: You can now dig into the back issues of our Monday newsletter and each ‘n every installment of What Are the Cute. Also, we received so many amazing responses to our second-kid conversation that we saved a bunch to an Instagram highlight.

Our sources re: the backstory of Jibbitz: NBC News, Business News Daily, and The Times. 

Molly Young’s article “The Cookie Jar Grows Up” in The New York Times that’s about so much more than a locked box for your phone. Also, we still think about Shonda Rimes's Year of Yes…and have starting thinking more about Brandy & Whitney’s Cinderella.

Our recs for a gift for a three year old include a Yoto Player, a karaoke mic, a Loog guitar or this Kid’s Concept one, a DJ Mixer, Magnatiles, a custom coloring poster with the kid’s name, costumes like this firefighter one or a customized superhero cape, If there’s room and it’s in the budget: Haus. And something we should all know: USPS now makes Buzz Lightyear stamps. 

If you have recommendations for kid-friendly space movies—beyond Muppets from Space— or substitutes for “affordable,” “expensive,” and the like, let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

Get your ecomm business going with Shopify. Try a free 14-day trial with our link.

YAY.

Produced by Dear Media

We’re so excited about this week’s Guest Thingies with Ellen Van Dusen of Dusen Dusen—great recommendations await! But first, some nuggets of wisdom from famously creative famous dudes.

We’re definitely taking inspiration from Rod Stewart’s model railway side project and Tom Hanks's advice to Austin Butler. 

Ellen’s Thingies include being comfortable inside and outside the home (please see: her delightful robes…and brand-new slippers!!), @Favetiktoks420 on Instagram, and cool silverware (especially David Tisdale’s Picnic Flatware, which makes us think of Ahimsa dinnerware for kids). She also loves tile right now—see: Heath Ceramics, her collab with Concrete Collaborative, Fireclay, and Oasis—and you have to, have to check out her backyard mosaic. Last but not least: Her love of bird-watching has us asking when she’s going to start selling the birdhouse she designed for Brooklyn Botanic Garden (in the meantime, the MoMA one we’re all into). Ooh, and as we told Ellen, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a great book and a much better movie than it gets credit for being.

Share your dream Thingies guests with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

Give professional counseling a shot with BetterHelp and take 10% off your first month with our link.

Help your curly hair look its best with LUS and get 15% off your first purchase of $50 or more with the code ATHINGORTWO.

YAY.

Produced by Dear Media

Let’s go in-depth on romance novels! But first, we’re chatting with Madeline Nusser from Allstate Identity Protection, which oh-so-graciously sponsored this episode, to dig into something equally sexy: doing what you can to thwart identity theft. 

Go to AIP.com/AThingOrTwo today to see if Allstate Identity Protection is available through your employer. If not sign up there to get a 30-day free trial..

Check out The Washington Post article on the rise of romance in the U.S. and this Twitter thread from Helen Rosner on the weirdness of publishing categories. 

Some books that are not romance novels but kind of are: 

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (but her book Instructions for Dancing counts!)

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Books we endorse for romance newbs:

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (see also: our podcast ep with Tallia)

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola (who’s a great Twitter follow)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

More romance authors with many books to dive into: 

Jasmine Guillory 

Abby Jimenez

Tessa Bailey

Have a romance novel you want, neeeeeed to recommend? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

Support your hair with Nutrafol. Take $15 off your first month’s subscription with the code ATHINGORTWO.

Look into Allstate Identity Protection (and see if your employer offers it, too). Use our link for a 30-day free trial.

Try Bombas and take 20% off your first purchase when you use our link.

Book that doctor’s appointment: Download the free Zocdoc app.

YAY.

Produced by Dear Media

​​You know what we have a lot to say about in this best-of-2011 ep? A lot of things, from high praise for neighborhood restaurants and actually useful apps to sharing weddings FAQs and advocating for yourself at the doctor’s office.

If you want to sell others on the Michigan Star restaurant, maybe send them this quickie podcast pitch we did on The Best Advice Show. 

Behold, the Covid wedding template of our dreams:

Our beloved friends & family,

It's only 30 days until our wedding! We're so glad that you are coming and celebrating this special day with us. 

A few announcements regarding the wedding: 

Serious stuff

• You must be fully vaccinated to attend the event. Please send your proof of vaccination to EMAIL ADDRESS.
• For children and adults with underlying medical conditions preventing them from getting vaccinated, we ask that you obtain a negative PCR Covid-19 test result within 48 hours prior to the event.
• Your health is of utmost importance to us, and we have therefore decided to cancel ANY CHANGES TO EVENT SCHEDULE.

Fun stuff

• X, Y, Z!

Apps worth your limited phone storage space: Weather Strip, Libby, and PictureThis (related-ish: Merlin Bird ID). 

We’re here for your feedback!  Share it with us at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq. And for more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

YAY.

Produced by Dear Media