FROM: STELLA

TO: LAURA

1. We found a few new-to-us breakfast spots recently and have been really enjoying getting out of the house before anyone else is out and about. If you are ever in the Asheville area, I highly recommend Yellow Mug Coffee Lounge, Dynamite Roasting, Taco Billy, and Open Oven.

2. I took Colby to the pool for the first time this week and he had a blast! I bought him these floaties and he also enjoyed playing with our donut-teamed inflatable tube. Luckily my sister has a beautiful outdoor pool at her apartment complex and we went on a weekday morning so it was totally empty. Going places on weekday mornings has been one of the many perks of working a west coast job while living on the east coast.

3. I signed up to receive the Green Chef meal kit box again this week. It’s been a few years since I gave them a try and I was super impressed by their recipes, ingredients, and packaging. Excited to keep getting boxes delivered and making my week a little easier!

4. I read two different books about money this week. The first was, The Nest, a story of adult siblings and the fate of their shared inheritance and then dealing with the consequences of spending it before receiving it. It was interesting to read this novel at the same time that I was making my way through Die With Zero, a personal finance book about spending your wealth as you earn it rather than leaving behind money after you die. I really enjoyed reading both the same week and it’s made me think a lot about how I want to spend (and leave behind) my own money.

5. I was inspired by the books I read and also a Facebook post I saw about someone losing a boyfriend in their early 30s to start working on a Legacy Binder. I found a slew of resources including a few from of my favorite bloggers and podcasters. Let the over-organization begin!

FROM: LAURA

TO: STELLA

1. It has been a podcast heavy week for me! Since the start of the pandemic I’ve definitely found it a bit harder to stay up to date on all my favorites, but some weeks just click and I go on enough walks, pair podcasts with house chores, or miraculously have downtime that I get to devote to listening and catching up. This week was definitely one of those!

2. This First Name Basis podcast episode about a real-life, teachable anti-bias moment is a great example that Jasmine explores from her own life. I hope she does a lot more along these lines because I found it so helpful and useful to hear another parent’s thought process and techniques when it comes to correcting, informing, and exploring ways that bias creeps into our lives and those of our children. I had been meaning to become a Patreon supporter for a while now and this episode definitely pushed me over the edge to go sign up asap.

3. Last week’s episode of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast’s “Summer of Friendship” series with Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo (of A Thing Or Two (and more) fame, also nearly always a highlight in my podcast playlist) made me laugh and smile so much. I love hearing podcast hosts let loose a little, and this origin story and friendship details were just what I wanted to get to know them all a little better.

4. The Girls Just Wanna Have Funds podcast wrapped their first season with an episode all about goals and it was inspiring to hear how they both go about setting, tracking, and updating their personal, financial, and career goals. Especially enjoyed hearing about Saira’s long-term goal to found and run a non-profit dedicated to early financial literacy (this may or may not have been a text I sent to Stella already saying, “You should be friends with her and help found/run this!!”).

5. I loved the book ‘Bringing Up Bebé.’ I read it when Ernie was three or four weeks old and it was a serious game-changer for both my husband and I on how we approached the early days of parenting. The TL;DR boils down to “watch and observe” and react from there after giving pause and space. It changed our sleep game and then later on helped with food, play, autonomy, and so much more. It’s a guiding principle for us and a book we have referred back to often in the last two plus years. The Only You: A One and Done Podcast did an episode with the author, Pamela Druckerman, and I so enjoyed hearing some behind the scenes tidbits on how and why she wrote it, as well as things she’s learned since, and her take on the “only” conversation.