Just in time for summer, Tsh and Christine talk about simple (but not always easy) ways to overcome negative body image issues. Then, Tsh shares why and how she’s going on sabbatical for a month in July. In our productivity-obsessed world that’s a petri dish for all sorts of limiting beliefs about why sabbaticals are unnecessary or impossible, they talk about how Tsh has learned to overcome some of that thinking. Related Posts: Why I'm Taking a Sabbatical by Tsh The Liberation of Lake Life (A Bo...
Jun 07, 2019•55 min•Ep. 201
The U.S. is a melting pot, so what does it look like to incorporate your ancestral heritage into your day-to-day family life? Tsh chats with Jacqui Skemp, who shares small, simple ways she weaves her culture — as a first-generation Mexican American — at home with her husband and small children. She also gives us a short-and-sweet good list update: four things currently making her life sweeter. Related Posts: Summer Reading Guide for Kids by Tsh On Raising a Multicultural Family by Jacqui Links F...
May 31, 2019•37 min•Ep. 200
In what ways have you changed since high school? If you're normal, you've changed in so many ways you've lost count. Tsh shares how (and about what) she's changed her mind regarding her values, worldview, and perspective in the 20+ years since she graduated. (Spoiler: It's good to change our minds. It means we're growing and willing to learn.) Crystal then chats about the vital role of people like therapists, coaches of all sorts, counselors and other helping professionals, and the unmistakable ...
May 24, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 199
Friendships: in this chat Tsh and Katherine talk about why we need to take the time for them even when life is busy, plus little ways we can better cultivate them. (The Internet, for all its foibles, can also be a really beautiful breeding ground for cultivating some of our best friends!) They also park a bit on the legacy of Rachel Held Evans, and how our collective mourning of our loss of her has shown us blatantly and beautifully how we really can know each other through the Internet. Then, t...
May 17, 2019•53 min•Ep. 198
What’s important about learning the names of things like flowers, trees, frogs — the stuff we usually drive by and don’t think about? Andrea’s loved nature since she was a kid, but she’s re-embraced this side of her as a city-dwelling adult. She gets into why paying attention to nature is important, and also shares practical tips for getting into this wherever we live. And with a few weeks of the school year, I’m talking about what I’ve learned after a year of teaching high school English. I am ...
May 10, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 197
We’ve gotten into this episode’s topic off and on here, but Crystal’s a bit unique: while she doesn’t use social media for her own personal work, a huge part of her job is helping others use social media for their work. She knows what it’s like to use it both for connecting her real life with the Internet, and for helping business owners find their people online. The Internet can become a downward spiral when it comes to things like mental health, relationships, societal structures, politics, an...
May 03, 2019•50 min•Ep. 196
Yep …Our relationships with food. Christine articulates what it means to feast, to embrace a season of coming around the table to share a meal and how that pairs really well when you also embrace more fasting in your life. This is especially great now that we’re in the season of Eastertide. Tsh shares her own personal guidelines with eating, which sounds stoic and hardcore, but it’s not. It embraces a philosophy of feasting as well, and it’s been a mental game changer for her. In the third segme...
Apr 26, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 195
Tsh shares a little practice she's been doing the past few months to help her weekends go much smoother. To anyone around her, it probably looks like nothing — but to her brain, it’s been a game changer. And Katherine’s not only a local pastor, but by golly this is Holy Week — so, we get into what this means when it comes to sitting in discomfort and letting ourselves feel all the things, instead of rushing from the weirdness of Palm Sunday into the colored Easter eggs of Easter. Even if you’re ...
Apr 19, 2019•41 min•Ep. 194
What's the difference between a scarcity and an abundant mindset? It really comes down to gratitude as the ultimate antidote, whether it's fear, overwhelm, jealousy, or good old-fashioned FOMO. What does it mean to be a hometown tourist? It’s also about mindset, discovering where you live with a spirit of curiosity. Tsh and Christine get into both these things, including a few practicals on how to incorporate both of these in your daily life. Then somewhat ironically, in the third segment Tsh ch...
Apr 12, 2019•58 min•Ep. 193
This is a regular series here on the show — and in this one, Tsh talks to her good friend, Emily P Freeman. She’s a fellow writer and podcaster, and she’s got a new book of the same name (it might be Tsh's favorite of hers yet). Emily’s been on this show a few times; the last time was last summer after she & Tsh co-led Literary London and they debriefed about our experience. In this chat, Emily shares with us 4 things currently making everything a little bit better in her life. In the episod...
Apr 05, 2019•47 min•Ep. 192
Christine is a farmer: in this chat, she gets into what she’s learning about the value of slowing down, of learning to embrace our full plates (while eschewing “busyness”), and the beauty of “delightfully misplacing our phones.” And because Tsh recently wrote about what books she read in March, she gets into the why, how, and what of reading more classics — it doesn’t have to be pretentious or hard — it can actually be fun with the right mindset. Related Posts: What Tsh Read in March Christine's...
Mar 29, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 191
There’s this idea that home ownership is the destination that crowns you officially a grown-up. In this chat, Andrea and Tsh agree this simply isn’t true. Andrea’s in her mid-30s and has rented an apartment with her husband for the past six years — and loves it. Tsh and her husband are two years into renovating a 1935 cottage, and she’s learned a lot, too. In this chat, they talk about lessons learned from where they live: how to shake off a temporary mindset, how to make a less-than ideal house...
Mar 22, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 190
Crystal's recently learned stuff about herself via something she’s never done before as an adult: decluttering her own closet. She and Tsh talk about discovering personal realizations when you do something as surprisingly vulnerable as weeding out your wardrobe. And to pair Tsh's own recently published Travel Philosophy, she shares what she's learned about herself from the act of travel — things she never realized were true, and little ways she's surprised herself on the road — if you’ve ever tr...
Mar 15, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 189
We’ve got another in our series called My Good List : a thing, a habit, a work of art, and a philosophy. (Don't worry, we're not nixing our new format! We're simply still doing MGLs every now and then...) I’m talking to my friend Christie Purifoy, a former English professor turned writer and gardener. She’s got a new book out called Placemaker , and it’s all about what it means to actually lean in to your soul’s desire for beauty and the need to create, instead of stuffing or ignoring it — and w...
Mar 08, 2019•55 min•Ep. 188
What happens when you're hit with the truth that you're WAY busier than you thought you were? Katherine shares real-talk truth she gleaned after she wrote out a recent day-in-the-life recap — seeing her day broken down by the hour helped her realize a truth lots of us can relate to: she's busier than she wants to be. Then Tsh shares what she's learned about why she's felt overwhelmed by reading more non-fiction recently: too many gurus. She shares four ways to keep these smart-but-distant people...
Mar 01, 2019•54 min•Ep. 187
Even if you’re not a writer — or even in a sort of work where you create — you’ll find wisdom and inspiration in Andrea's life lessons she's learned from writing. And because I wrote about podcasts I’m currently into, in this chat I’m talking about the beauty and necessity of silence — why we all need it more than ever in our information-overloaded culture, and how the science backs me up on this. Related Posts: Andrea's writing lessons 8 great podcasts by Tsh Links From This Episode: Andrea on ...
Feb 22, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 186
Cultivating a healthy marriage sometimes looks different when kids are at different ages. Christine and her husband have kids under 8, so she shares how they find ways to date in the nooks and crannies of their life. Tsh and her husband have kids 8 and up , so she shares how they model their marriage at home, right in front of their kids. Related Posts: Tsh's letter to her (slightly younger) self And the two shall become one, separately , by Christine Links From This Episode: Christine on Instag...
Feb 15, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 185
Crystal and Tsh get into Marie Kondo, a new book they're both excited to read, and something Crystal's been doing weekly with her husband (and then Kyle & Tsh started doing this right after this conversation). And then springboarding off her somewhat-vulnerable post she shared this week, Tsh talks about the beauty of good ol’ partial solutions. To round things out in the third segment, Stephanie and Tsh once more tackle another one of your travel questions. Related Posts: Crystal's Good List...
Feb 08, 2019•50 min•Ep. 184
Anxiety plagues a ton of people, and Andrea has been on quite a journey the past decade-plus learning how to live with it. In this episode, she shares a practice that helps her float through it (instead of fight or flight). Tsh talks about simple ways she incorporates more reading in her life, helping her inch through her TBR dust instead of watching it collect dust. In the third segment (since it’s the start of a new month), Tsh talks with Haley as she learn from her about what’s on the liturgi...
Feb 01, 2019•51 min•Ep. 183
What's it like to be a full-time pastor of a local church, then decide to also become a certified yoga instructor? In this chat, Katherine talks about the misconceptions she had about yoga before she began a few years ago, as well as what it’s like to find fun surprises you didn’t know you needed in unexpected places. Then Tsh expands on her Good List post she wrote this week — why she loves creating playlists (and considers it a form of art), a new-to-her veggie delivery service that’s hitting ...
Jan 25, 2019•42 min•Ep. 182
Growing older is a privilege denied to many people; it means we should celebrate the gift it is! In this episode, we’re talking about ways to celebrate birthday milestones in your life — Christine recently wrote a gorgeous essay about what it meant for her to turn 40 not too long ago. Then Tsh shares thoughts on her current beauty and self-care routine, specifically focused on hair and skin. Because after turning 40, it's a gift to prioritize this sort of stuff. Related AoS Posts: Christine's wh...
Jan 18, 2019•55 min•Ep. 181
Crystal shares why she loved logging a play-by-play day-in-the-life of what’s otherwise a mundane day for her (except that right now, everything is different from her normal). Tsh also shares what she thinks works SO much better than big-huge annual goals, and how you can create a framework that works for you, too. Plus, Tsh chats with a woman who turned her quirky talent into a full-on company! Related AoS Posts: Crystal's day in the life Tsh's thoughts on goals & words-of-the-years Links F...
Jan 11, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 180
The start of a new year is a perfect time to talk about changes, and that’s the topic of my chat here with Stephanie Langford. You’ll hear the changes in the very format of this episode (it’s what you can expect for new episodes in 2019!). Plus, a fun new segment with Haley Stewart! Related AoS Posts: 20+ Questions for a New Year 2019 Letter From the Editor Links From This Episode: Stephanie on Instagram Tsh on Twitter & Instagram Ultimate Bundles Wonderling Family The Art of Simple About Pa...
Jan 04, 2019•48 min•Ep. 179
Dec 20, 2018•49 min•Ep. 178
Jo Ellis started a nonprofit crafting school in her small town, where she and others in the community use their different crafting skills like sewing, quilting, felting, and painting to make an impact in her small town. She first saw overseas how teaching something like sewing could change the attitude, perspective, and even future of young women, so when she returned home, she wanted to impart that same idea in her community. Links From This Episode: MakeDo , Jo's crafting school MakeDo on Face...
Dec 18, 2018•32 min•Ep. 177
Continuing our series called My Good List, this time, I’m talking with a new friend named Jacqui Skemp, a California transplant living in snowy Minnesota. She’s a mom to three little boys, and chatting with her is like sipping on a calming, warm drink — I just love her taste, her ideas, and her approach to life. I know you’ll enjoy her. Links From This Episode: Jacqui's blog, Mexican Domestic Goddess Jacqui on Instagram Tsh on Twitter & Instagram Smashbox L.A. Sunset lipstick Schitt's Creek ...
Dec 13, 2018•29 min•Ep. 176
Maghon Taylor has a knack for hand-lettering and wanted to create a way to use her talents entrepreneurially. So, she started a company that features her unique handwriting on everything, from mailboxes and hats, journals to wine glasses. She also teaches online classes on how to turn your own handwriting into a unique hand-lettering style. Maghon loves what she does, and her enthusiasm is infectious. Links From This Episode: All She Wrote Notes All She Wrote Notes on Instagram Tsh on Twitter &a...
Dec 11, 2018•28 min•Ep. 175
We’ve got another in our series! This time, it’s with my friend Stephanie Langford, who if you’ve listened to this podcast for a bit, you know her — she’s my fellow serial traveler and a dear friend to me. (As a reminder, in these chats I’m asking friends to break down their Good Lists in 4 areas: a thing, a habit they’ve adopted, a work of art, and a philosophy.) Links From This Episode: Stephanie on Instagram Tsh on Twitter & Instagram Literary London Away luggage (use code SIMPLE for $20 ...
Dec 06, 2018•32 min•Ep. 174
Sonja Overhiser worked in the business world for 13 years before stepping out to run her food media business with her husband, Alex. When they became parents through adoption, they wanted to transition to a more flexible lifestyle. They stepped away from their day jobs and dove into this world of food media full-time — a risky but ultimately fulfilling decision, because their cookbook released on their son's first birthday! Their main business is recipe development and brand ambassadorship for m...
Dec 04, 2018•32 min•Ep. 173
Remember our “What’s Saving My Life” series? We’re still doing them — but now we’re calling them “My Good List.” (Same concept, clearer name.) In this episode, I’m chatting with Christine Bailey — remember her? She’s the farmer I spoke with in episode 140, where she shared her story about transitioning from city life to life on acreage raising vegetables and kids. I loved chatting with her so much, I asked her back to share with me four things, big or small, making everything better in her life....
Nov 29, 2018•39 min•Ep. 172
