10 Things We're Doing Besides Baby Booming

Big news: One of us is pregnant, and it’s not Erica—and it never will be, for that matter! We took to the podcast for a two-parter on the topic: First, we break down the decision to have kids or not—and how for some, that’s an easy call, and for others, there’s a lot of hand-wringing involved. Then we dive into Claire’s pregnancy thoughts so far (well, complaints so far if we’re being honest). Strap in: We’re having a baby.

erica’s things

• Cracking open Fight No More because it's pitched as a series of interconnected stories about L.A. real estate. Staying up late to read it because of everything else it's got going on.

• Eating an elaborate, tofu-centric lunch in Kyoto’s bamboo forest that was exactly as magical as I hoped it would be.

• Throwing it back to obsessions with Reality Bites, frosted purple lipstick, and Joey Potter sweater inspo with the dynamic duo behind Haystack Stories.

• Commending those succulent nuts for landing on this genius way to get their plants for free.

• Finding the Chinese youth culture embrace of Peppa Pig beyond fascinating.

claire’s things

• Looking at furniture for the cat I don’t own when I probably should be looking at cribs instead.

• Not wanting this major historical moment to go unnoticed just because it took place in the midst of an otherwise busy news week.

• Getting carried away with my newfound status as a tea person by proclaiming this the ideal contraption for loose leaves. Basic criteria: doesn’t make a mess; is easy to clean.

• Cycling through too many bras to count while dealing with pregnancy changes but feeling confident that this extremely forgiving one is going to take me straight through to the finish (and after, too?).

• Marveling at how a book that is entirely about sadness and sleeping manages to be neither depressing nor boring.

turn it up to 11 - from erica

• Verifying the authenticity of a scent: So many things in Japan smell exactly like this.

10 Things We're Doing Besides Making New Markdowns Happen

Our sale section: Hottest place on the web right now. So many markdowns. People falling all over themselves to get access. Hurry up and visit before it’s not cool anymore.

erica’s things

• Politely asking Netflix to add When Dimple Met Rishi to its rom-com revival strat. The story involves coding camp, a Bollywood dance number, and A Wrinkle in Time even.

• Finding a house that would make me say, “Texas forever.”

• Positing that we’re living in the golden era of restaurant pens.

• Stalking my nineties teenage phone on Etsy and experiencing prank-call nostalgia. It almost makes me yearn for a landline…

• Getting a real kick outta these gloriously colorful and witty prints. Can I have a whole wall of them, do you think??

claire’s things

• Thinking way too much about these since seeing them at a tradeshow. Can someone please find them IRL for me?

• Discovering that the key to good peanut sauce is a can of coconut milk—as evidenced by this extremely addictive stuff.

• Answering my phone with a lot more ease now that Hiya’s in charge of blocking the spamsters.

• Calling these stunning little numbers the ultimate Ikea hack—does compressed wood even deserve a drawer handle like this, though?

• Having “if only I’d found this earlier” pangs re: the basic principles of mindfulness and feeling so glad that this exists for little ones now.

turn it up to 11 - from claire

• Apologizing to my husband for buying pink candlesticks for our dining room table without consulting him first. Shrug emoji.

10 Things We're Doing Besides Notifying You about the New

Have you poked around your favorite website recently? We’ve added newness in personal care and paper goods, and we’re even starting to pull together our transition-to-fall look because how else to distract ourselves from this humidity? And, speaking of planning ahead: We’re pitching a panel for SXSW 2019 all about **work wives**—head on over and give it a thumbs up, will ya? 

erica’s things

• Falling fast for 1) this woman and 2) her flower fossils.

• Dramatically improving my smoothie-drinking experience with a metal bubble tea straw.

• Considering the existence of tear-stained PlayStation controllers: There is crying in video-game playing, turns out. (But still not in baseball.)

• Finding two new Minneapolis favorites—the delicious ‘n cheery Hai Hai and the charming ‘n prickly Madre Cacti Co.—which happen to be four blocks apart.

• Counting down the days ‘til I can see Bel Canto in theaters. That Julianne Moore!!!

claire’s things

• Recommending a trip to Paris purely for a tour its fancy groceries, which are truly one of the more inspirational feats of retail I’ve witnessed of late. Start with Le Grande Epicerie, Printemps du Goût, and Maison Plisson.

• Experimenting with phasing out coffee (yeah, I don’t know who I am anymore either) and helping things along with this equally craveable tea blend.

• Saving sanity in spades by adding a second time zone to my Google Calendar. How’d it take me this long?

• Identifying an acronym that perfectly captures the stupidly painful process I go through when it comes to furniture-buying, vacation-planning, menu-ordering, etc.: FOBO.

• Finding out the bad news about the subway wait time before I even leave the house—but at least having the option to hike to the express or jump in a cab if necessary?

turn it up to 11 - from erica

• Upgrading to a jumbo bottle of this wondrous stuff because it really is so good for everything—even, if you ask my husband, as aftershave.

10 Things We're Doing Besides Taking a Break

Our podcast is officially on summer hiatus. We’re rerunning some of our very best eps, but only for three weeks because genius never sleeps. (That’s a saying, right?) While we gear up for the greatness to come, do us a favor: Hit reply to this email and tell us what the next season should sound like—what’s working for ya, what’s not doing it so much, and what topics we really need to cover

erica’s things

• Spending 11 seconds with this...and then 11 more seconds and 11 more seconds.

• Clearing out the nonsense in my camera roll with the wonderfully satisfying app Flic.

• Thanking Bedsider.org for the (well-designed) birth-control method explainer we all deserve. Side-by-side comparison included, even.

• Following an IG account on the basis of its name—@cheapoldhouses!—and then getting fully sucked into its content.

• Crossing a big one off the “Stars—They’re Just Like Us!” hit list with the news that famous people got themselves a new, chic, private terminal.

claire’s things

• Wondering if these are the things that would make me break my neutrals-only rule when it comes to furniture buying. (Click through to the big images; the details are dreamy.)

• Discovering that my email address has been, uh, “pwned” via this bummer of a website that is, all the same, very useful.

• Feeling like my cookware could use a little more pastel in the mix.

• Hearing lots about endocannabinoids these days—first on our podcast and now in a very relevant-to-my-interests breakdown of the science behind why running is so helpful for anxiety and depression.

• Getting my reading recs care of an underground network.

turn it up to 11 - from claire

• Identifying the only thing that’s ever tempted me in the slightest to learn how, exactly, dot journaling works.