First few days of 2025, another pile of podcasts, books, articles, movies, and shows I consumed instead of folding laundry and answering emails. Turns out not much changes when the calendar rolls over! Here are the highlights—consider this your permission slip to procrastinate productively.
🎧 Podcasts I Loved:
1. New Heights Podcast (feat. Caitlin Clark)
I’m one of the weirdos who loved New Heights before Taylor entered the chat. (Now I obviously love it even more. Big Taylor/Travis shipper here.) The latest episode featured basketball goddess Caitlin Clark and it did not disappoint. Caitlin’s humility, humor, and dedication to her craft shine through and it’s fun to listen to the boys get a little starstruck.
2. The Mel Robbins Podcast (feat. Dr. Stuart Ablon)
Dr. Stuart Ablon (professor of child & adolescent psychiatry at Harvard) breaks down some of the biggest parenting and behavioral myths in a way that's practical, compassionate, and so straightforward you'll wonder why no one told you this sooner. It was profoundly moving, especially as a parent to a kid who is often pinned as “difficult” by others. Prepare for multiple "I need to write this down" moments. It taps into the core of fostering deeper understanding of others, and I found myself holding back tears several times.
📚 What I'm Reading:
This is Happiness by Niall Williams
This novel feels like a warm cup of tea on a rainy day. Set in a small Irish village, This is Happiness is a lyrical, tender exploration of beauty of ordinary moments. Niall Williams' prose is so poetic, I kept pausing just to reread sentences and say, "Dang, that was good." If you need a book to slow down with, this is it. Exceptional for the long, dark winter days.
📖 Next Up in the To Read Queue:
1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
Mel Robbins always seems to have the exact advice I need, usually delivered in a way that feels like she’s shaking me gently by the shoulders. I appreciate gentle encouragement, but sometimes I need the friend that just tells me to pull my crap together. Mel Robbins is a nice balance of both. I’m not usually a fan of self-help personalities, but I really enjoy Mel a lot.
2. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
This book has been staring at me from my bookshelf like, "Oh, you have time for Instagram but not for me?" I love Louise’s writing SO much, I feel guilty for not having read this one yet. I’m finally ready to stop avoiding eye contact with that self.
📺 What I'm Watching:
Shrinking on AppleTV
This show is exceptional. Jason Segel and Harrison Ford are the odd couple I never knew I needed, and the blend of humor and heartbreak hits just right. It’s therapy, but with fewer co-pays and more Harrison Ford.
🍳 What I'm Cooking:
1. Chicken Curry Fried Rice (New York Times Cooking)
This dish is the perfect mix of comfort food and bold flavors. Quick to whip up, endlessly customizable, and somehow tastes even better as leftovers. Highly recommend if you're in the mood to feel like a weeknight dinner hero. Everyone in the house said, “Make this one again.”
2. Betty Crocker’s Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Somehow both a dessert and a breakfast (don’t question it), this bread is damn good. Chocolate chips? Yes. Pumpkin spice? Absolutely. Will I eat half the loaf in one sitting? You bet.
📱 Around the Internet:
“Doomed to be a Tradwife” by Olga Khazan at The Atlantic
“Mike Johnson, Welcome to the Thunderdome” by Joe Perticone at The Bulwark
“Justin Baldoni files $250 million libel lawsuit against New York Times” by Samantha Chery at The Washington Post
(Side note: This whole sequence of events is BONKERS. Also, my husband knows Justin from high school, and he has some not nice things to say about him…)
“Posting Less” by Anne Helen Petersen at Culture Study
What have you been loving this week? Drop your recommendations in the comments—I’m always looking for new ways to avoid my responsibilities like any honest adult.
I’m obsessed with This is Happiness and Time of the Child. A friend heard an interview and he said (Niall Williams that is) that Faha is the main character in the book. Being a small town girl myself it makes me love the books even more. Such a fantastic writer.
Quarter of the way through Niall Williams' newest, Time of the Child, and it is just as good and delicious as This is Happiness, with more about some of the same characters!