Well, we start off recounting some difficult times we've experienced in excruciatingly hot conditions. Our passion about this topic will surprise approximately no one. But then, in an unlikely turn, we discuss exercise: power walking, Melanie's first yoga class, and a new fitness class that involves a mini tramp (Melanie may try it, so STAY TUNED). We go on to share our thoughts about Costco, vacations, shorts, along with what we've been watching and reading. And naturally there's a lengthy disc...
Apr 03, 2017•1 hr 15 min
As you might expect, we spend some time in this podcast recapping Melanie's recent visit to Birmingham, and we talk at length about our visit to SEC Headquarters. I don't think it's overstating it to say that it was a life highlight. We also talk about the Oscars, the ageless wonder of Halle Berry, texting etiquette, a few favorite podcasts, and the great mystery of why none of the old SEC Wives episodes are online. As seems to always be the case recently, we have a big discussion about This Is ...
Mar 02, 2017•56 min
Okay first of all Melanie has some internet issues on this podcast - she cuts in and out at times - and while the (lack of) internet service is unfortunate, I will say that she mines her inconvenience for some comedy gold. BE WARNED, AT&T. We also talk about our ongoing efforts to eat better and exercise more, and as you will hear we are just as thrilled as we can be about all of that. Also on this podcast: some thoughts on the Grammys, foods we crave the most, how I found myself in an unspo...
Feb 15, 2017•58 min
Well, the big news at the beginning of this podcast is that Melanie is snack mom for Caroline's soccer team, so we have a lengthy conversation about budgeting and price awareness and our limitations as household managers. We also spend some time talking about Melanie's feelings about chicken that's already off the bone, salsas we enjoy, goals for TV watching, and some exciting new cosmetic finds. There's also a considerable amount of discussion about our optimal lighting and how maybe we're faci...
Jan 28, 2017•1 hr 3 min
In this podcast Melanie and I talk about her recent bout with the plague, our thoughts on soup, our favorite dresses at the Golden Globes, and then a bunch of other stuff that I don't really remember though I'm sure it's absolutely riveting. Oh! We talk about why Melanie doesn't want to see Manchester by the Sea , our recent enjoyment of staying home pretty much all the time, and our assessment of the National Championship game. Plus we ramble through approximately 72 different topics. But it's ...
Jan 10, 2017•58 min
Well, it's the first podcast of 2017 for Melanie and me, and our discussion seems to focus on several people that we really don't know even a little bit: Mariah Carey (not to mention her affection for a bodysuit), Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Queen Elizabeth, and Meghan Markle, to name a few. There is a considerable amount of La La Land -related raving / fangirling. We also spend a lot of time talking about television - one of our very favorite topics - and then we reflect a little bit on 2016 and ...
Jan 03, 2017•1 hr
Earlier today Melanie and I decided to try to record a podcast, and lo and behold, our schedules cooperated. Then, on a whim, I texted our good friend Travis Cottrell to see if he could join us, and when he said that he could, I'm pretty sure that I heard some angels sing. Or maybe that was just Hazel barking at the UPS driver. But regardless, it was a moment. So. We discuss our thoughts about conveying tone in texts, the latest on Melanie's kitchen (complete with a coffee bar update), and then ...
Dec 20, 2016•51 min
If you have ever thought to yourself, Gosh, you know what would be awesome? LISTENING TO MELANIE AND SOPHIE TALK ABOUT KITCHENS! , well, this is your lucky day. Or not! But listen. You can rest easy - even if kitchens aren't your thing - because we still have ourselves some laughs. And we eventually talk about what we've been watching and reading. Plus our Christmas plans. Plus maybe setting the bar a little higher when we (hopefully) record a Christmas podcast next week. Enjoy, y'all! (Show not...
Dec 14, 2016•53 min
Well, well, well. It's a Thanksgiving miracle! We're so happy to be back with y'all after a too-long absence. We talk about our kitchens, the changing tides of bridal registries, Melanie's super-sunny new outlook, the Dallas Cowboys (heyyyyyy, Dak Prescott), skin care, and Christmas music. Plus some other stuff. Because we had a lot of catching up to do. Also, Hazel makes a lot of background noise during the first ten minutes of the podcast, but that's just part of our podcasting charm. Or at le...
Nov 18, 2016•49 min
So Melanie and I were on the Skype a little earlier than normal for this particular episode, and before we started recording I was somewhat concerned because Melanie could not stop yawning (to be fair, she was completely un-caffeinated at the time). However, I have to say that she pulled through like a non-yawning champ, so KUDOS TO HER. For the first 30-ish minutes it's podcast business as usual; we answer a few questions from y'all and talk about SEC Nation and why I love my hair dryer and how...
Sep 23, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Well, let's see. Melanie is cooking ribs during this podcast, and a couple of times she has to take a podcast break to flip her ribs. I don't know what more any of us could ask, really. But we also talk about college football, pro football, the color of the Cowboys' football pants, pop-up ads, an allergy I recently discovered (it's an allergy I have - not an actual medical discovery), and cotton pants (good job, GAP). This episode is a little shorter than usual, but we were in a time crunch. We'...
Sep 15, 2016•46 min
Well, we have us some new theme music, and it's pretty sassy if I do say so myself. Apparently at least one of us (me!) is destined to like loud saxophones for the rest of her life, and if they have a hint of a disco groove, then all the better. We cover a whole bunch of conversational ground in this episode: the Rio Olympics, our summertime entertainment favorites, our fitness goals / struggles, the fact that Melanie draws the line at kale, and why she will never go deep sea fishing ever again....
Aug 12, 2016•1 hr 3 min
There are times when Melanie and I record a podcast and everything seems right in the world. The skies are blue, life is easy, and cheerfulness comes oh-so-naturally. This particular podcast is not necessarily one of those times. But here's the thing, I guess. After the last few weeks and everything that's been going on in the world - not to mention with our close friends and family members - well, we were feeling a little punchy. And while yes, punchy can certainly be funny, we probably weren't...
Jul 15, 2016•1 hr 7 min
If you have any doubts at all about the fact that Melanie and I covered a wide swath of conversational ground in this podcast, then just take a look at all the links below. I believe the phrase you're looking for is "ALL OVER THE PLACE." We talk about coffee, summer snacks, lunch foods, whether the whole Hamilton phenomenon is already dead to Melanie, personality traits we enjoy in others, and the many reasons it's probably a good idea that the Shankles didn't get any chickens. We also devote co...
Jun 23, 2016•57 min
In lo, this 60th episode of our little podcast, we cover a wide range of topics: beach life, skin care favorites, pet peeves, summer plans, and what preferences we have when it comes to speaking stuff. We also talk about summer plans (or lack thereof), including my upcoming trip to NYC ("ALEXANDER HAMILTON - just you wait, just you wait"). I believe there's also a minute or two in there when we talk about summer memories of yore, including bare feet on hot pavement. SIMPLER TIMES. If you'd like ...
Jun 16, 2016•59 min
We had to record this podcast in two installments, but by diggity we got 'er done. We spent the first installment marveling over Melanie's fancy new microphone, digging into my significant obsession with Hamilton , and then discussing the recent baseball match-up between Mississippi State and Texas A&M. It's fair to say that the Aggies enjoyed some baseball dominance in Starkville. In the second installment we talk about Hazel and Mabel, our summer Birkenstocks, my new favorite lipstick, and...
Apr 20, 2016•1 hr 10 min
I think I can sum up this podcast nicely by telling you that we start off with a discussion about grackles and then move into a discussion about breakfast tacos. As you do. We also talk about cooking, the Downton Abbey series finale, what's in style this spring, and how some part of our personalities rebels against rigid organizational systems. There is nary a mention of mascara, our hair, or Amy Grant. We will try to do better next time. Melanie's blog: Big Mama Sophie's blog: BooMama...
Mar 08, 2016•57 min
First of all, I need to tell you that I mention in the podcast that there's going to be new theme music, but I didn't use the new theme music because I couldn't make it be anything other than SCREAMING LOUD and I wanted to make it fade out a little bit but ultimately lacked the will and/or determination and/or technical expertise. I did, however, add it to the very end of the podcast (IT'S VERY LOUD), so be sure to let us know what you think. We're a little tired of our evening newscast music. J...
Feb 23, 2016•58 min
Well, welcome to our Christmas hodgepodge. In this episode Melanie and I talk about Christmas preparations, Christmas menus, the A&M quarterback situation, my favorite way to cook steaks, Mel's upcoming trip to the AT&T store, a couple of apps that I'm enjoying, writing software, and our favorite Christmas songs. We also talk briefly about the rumor that Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry are ALLEGEDLY dating in real life. This could change everything, y'all. I'm not doing any links this ti...
Dec 19, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Y'all, I don't even know. This is a whole conversation about Melanie going to look at a tunic and then deciding to focus on foundational garments - all of which leads, quite frankly, to a LOT of talk about underwear. We also have some thoughts about football and skincare. And then we talked a lot about my eyelashes because what could possibly be more riveting than that. Also, I think that Melanie may have a career as a Revitalash consultant, so we may need to break down that particular topic at ...
Nov 05, 2015•54 min
On this episode Melanie is live from Sacramento, so this is pretty much our fanciest podcast ever. We talk about our road trips across the US, our theories about air travel, the relaxing properties of Candy Crush, our 40-something eyesight and its unwillingness to cooperate, the Mississippi State / Texas A&M football game, and the fashion courage required for an open-toe bootie. We also discuss red lipstick, the intensity Melanie brings to any college game day experience, and a a completely ...
Oct 01, 2015•58 min
Well, we hit the ground running in this podcast, and while you might initially think we've detoured into techy territory, we find our way back to our normal podcast pastures: fashion (specifically, we talk A LOT about jeans and booties), make-up, college football, and tailgating foods that we're planning to make at home for next week's game day. And if all that weren't enough, Melanie's iTunes goes rogue a couple of different times during the podcast and causes all sorts of tomfoolery and also s...
Aug 30, 2015•1 hr
Earlier this week Melanie and I tried to record a podcast, and I don't really think it's hyperbole when I say it was the most boring 40 minutes in the history of podcasting. In the history of ALL PODCASTS EVER. So today, we tried to rebound, and things were considerably more upbeat. We talk about our current and very fun stage of raising preteens (seriously - this is my favorite - THE BEST), a favorite sandwich we've rediscovered, an exciting and new-to-me cooking show, how our love of pajamas k...
Aug 07, 2015•1 hr 4 min
After a couple of weeks away, Melanie and I finally found a good time to sit down and podcast and talk about all the things. We rehash our magical Thursday with Christy Nockels, we discuss Piper and Mabel's new doggie daycare possibility, and Melanie shares a frankincense update along with a new and exciting skincare product. On top of all that excitement, we catch up on the latest with Martha, our continuing efforts to develop an organizational method for writing books, my complete inability to...
Jul 25, 2015•53 min
This is our 50th episode, only I didn't even realize it until Alex mentioned it to me, and then I forgot to say anything to Melanie until about 2/3 of the way through the podcast. So clearly we've planned an enormous celebration. We did make a very impromptu (and somewhat unorganized) decision to do some special giveaways, though, and you'll find out how to enter if you listen to the podcast. You can enter on my blog and Melanie's blog; there will be four winners total. And somehow, considering ...
Jul 02, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Well, if your idea of a good time is hearing Melanie and me talk about how we can barely muster the will to leave the house this summer, then this podcast is for you! And really, we are leaving the house. We would just not choose to leave the house, necessarily, if we weren't responsible for the care and socialization of some very active pre-teens. We also talk about how we met (I thought most people who read our blogs knew that story already, but I'm always happy to share it), a video thing tha...
Jun 24, 2015•59 min
Melanie and I definitely want to record podcasts more frequently this summer, but even still I'm a little shocked that we managed to put together one last week and this week, too. IS THIS WHAT PRODUCTIVITY FEELS LIKE? Continue to keep those expectations low, though. It could very well be next April before we get our act together again. We're gonna try to do better, but keep in mind that we kind of pride ourselves on our consistent inconsistency. On this podcast we answer more of your questions; ...
Jun 10, 2015•50 min
Y'all were kind enough to submit a whole bunch of questions for this podcast, and we managed to answer about eight of them over the course of 50-ish minutes. We're gonna do our best to re-visit the list-o-questions next week; maybe the question answering will become a summertime tradition for us. Honestly, that possibility sounds close enough to an actual plan that it makes me a little bit nervous. We do like to fly by the seat of our podcast pants, you know. Anyway, we talk about Melanie's wash...
Jun 03, 2015•56 min
You know what happens when you record a podcast without a plan? You wind up talking about things like sparkling water and frankincense and grocery lists and Kate's post-childbirth public appearance - and somehow you convince yourself that all of those topics just flow effortlessly from one to the next. They don't really flow effortlessly at all. But we're just as enthusiastic as we can be about every one of them, so surely that counts for something. We also talk about the current trend of weddin...
May 13, 2015•55 min
Melanie and I never really know what we're going to talk about when we start to record a podcast, so maybe that will help explain to you why we spend far too many minutes in this particular podcast talking about fruit kabobs. Yes. I said "fruit kabobs." We also talk about the books I read at the beach (I definitely don't recommend Gone Girl; it is a page-turner for sure, but the more I think about it the more I wish I hadn't read it), our expectations about Amy Poehler's book (I was sort of expe...
Apr 06, 2015•59 min
