A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Accessorizing Our Cords

Won’t you join us for TikTok medical advice and strong opinions about citrus and stoves on this week’s podcast episode? For an extra dose of us in your inbox on Thursdays—intel on Paris shopping, skiing, and SOCKS coming soon—sign up for Secret Menu. This quarter, we’ll be donating new member $$ to Plan C, which is doing the work to facilitate abortion pills by mail.  

erica’s things

• Losing myself in a book that’s a dash Boyhood, a dollop Miriam Toews, a sprinkle Free Solo.
  

• Encountering an ethereal cord cover. Talk about disrupting a category! 
   

• Reporting that this makes me 87% more likely to freeze soup…which makes me 72% less likely to hem and haw about what I’m eating for lunch.
   

• Digging the concept and the execution of this MoMA exhibit—it had me googling a bunch of artists after.
   

• Callin’ it: The olive-oil club is the new wine club.

claire’s things

• Wrestling with complicated feelings about both cops and football via this, about my husband’s high school.
   

• Marveling at how much maternal peace of mind I find in mitten clips. (Yes, of course there’s a cute version.)
   

• Spending a solid chunk of time clicking through all of the incredible pieces on offer from Ukraine-based Gunia Project.
   

• Recognizing the behavior of so many friends (and, to an extent, myself) in the term “social omnivore.” 
   

• Attending a December beach wedding without my usual winter pallor thanks to this gal.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Celebrating The 10-Year Anniversary Of This Newsletter

If you can stomach a little nostalgia: On December 31, 2012, we sent the first installment of this newsletter. It was meant to be a one-off (lol) to promote a sale we were running for our ecomm business Of a Kind (RIP) without being too “shop, shop, shop!” about it. The subject line? “10 things we're doing during the holidays...besides shopping our SALE, duh” And here we are, 500-ish weekly installments later. In an ode to the passing of time, we are reproducing the original, straight outta the archives, links updated to spare ya the 404s. We’re less embarrassed by it than we expected to be, frankly! Happy 2023, friends: to trying new things.

erica’s things

• Determining the best NYE nail color. Into the Gloss makes a strong case for Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Big Money.
   

• Filling up the Kindle with books about game-changing ladies—Diana Vreeland, Katharine Graham, and Mindy Kaling included.
   

• Researching matcha on the internets. Is owning a bamboo whisk too much?!
   

• Trying to motivate the wintertime working-out. This Lululemon hat with a *genius* ponytail hole might help. Ok, caved and bought running mittens.
   

• Sorting out the Monday-night [Ed note: Saturday-night!] bubbly sitch—and using Grub Street's list of emerging sparkly brands as a guide.

claire’s things

• Learning how to knit, courtesy of my mom (the pro responsible for the sweater Erica's wearing in the above pic). Working my way up to a Wool and the Gang kit—eyeing this poncho-meets-scarf. 
   

• Wishing I was IRL friends with Suze Orman after reading her book Women & Money, which is the perfect mix of therapy, coaching, and straightforward instructions. 
   

• Telling everyone about the wonder of RMS Living Luminizer, which Diana, our rockstar developer, gifted us for the holidays.
   

• Catching up on my Instapaper account. Highlights include this (about an artist working in Chicago’s South Side, where Erica and I met) and this (about my favorite childhood author). 
   

• Listening to Solange’s “Losing You” on repeat, bonus points for the video, which features highly inspirational pattern-mixing and dance moves.

A Thing or Two We’re Doing Besides Getting Fleeced

You know what your holiday travel could use? A podcast conversation about questionable winter boots and statement flies (like, on pants), a deep-dive into salads that come from vending machines and salads nibbled on by Frances McDormand. Happy everything, team! (Psst, Secret Menu gift subscriptions here.)

erica’s things

• Filing this doc series under “good clean family fun.” (I nearly cried a few times! I did not see it coming!)
  

• Setting my sights on a piece-y fleece-y.
   

• Dusting off my boots for when this cool, queer line-dancing party comes to NYC (please??). Until then, I’m jealous, Oakland and L.A.
   

• Sizing up a DIY project: Yes, my (extremely limited) artistic talents seem perfectly suited to making scrap fabric bowls.
   

• Wrapping my little brain around expiration dates. At last.

claire’s things

• Wondering which boring piece of furniture needs these in its life.
   

• Packaging up our holiday cookie handouts in these grocery-store finds.
   

• Feeling a mix of relief and excitement now that Amy Smilovic’s signature brand of IG Stories–style advice has taken the form of something more permanent.
   

• Offering up an idea in case anybody needs a last-minute gift to give to me.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Having An Organza Extravaganza

Some design-y Thingies—and a passionate case for microwaving—are coming at you this week on our podcast episode with Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer, authors of the impressively service-y (and, duh, gifty) book How to Live with Objects. If you could use some more of our book picks right about now, they’re all logged right over here. 

erica’s things

• Browsing honey by NYC neighborhood of origin. (See also: an L.A. take that’s *really* something else.)
   

• Carving out an afternoon between now and the end of the year to consume episode after episode of We’re Here. 
   

• Brainstorming where I could carry what feels almost like a special-occasion Baggu.
   

• Awaiting the opportunity to sew on a button with flourish.

claire’s things

• Worrying that this is not getting enough attention in general, but especially not enough credit for how funny it is.
   

• Responding to my child’s unquenchable thirst for more, more, more seasonal decorations with the nostalgia of paper chains.
   

• Awarding a destination-sandwich badge to this place—the herring sandwich specifically, but I’ve got my eyes on the anchovy one, too.  
   

• ID’ing yet another strong entry to the burgeoning category of pretty toilet-paper holders.
   

• Nominating chai as your alt holiday scent for when all that pine starts to feel a little cloying. Quite cozy, quite cinnamon-y.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Ringing In The Season

Build-a-Bear, Dua Lipa, and college soccer all make a showing this week on the podcast. Perhaps you have thoughts? Because there’s a Geneva for that. Ope, also meant to say: December new-subscriber $$ goes to Transanta to fulfill holiday wish lists for trans youth. (You can also buy gifts yourself via the org’s IG!)

erica’s things

• Filling the better part of a Saturday (and my stomach) eating my way through East Nashville.
   

• Hitting subscribe on anything Molly Young has ever created…and then learning that she refuses to send her new Substack via email. A living legend!
   

• Watching a basketball jersey transform into shorts, again and again and again.
   

• Knowing by the end of the first chapter that this is a book for me. 
   

• Trusting that the kid who’s getting this awesome-looking ice-cream science kit for X-mas isn’t reading this email.

claire’s things

• Working with my jewelry idol Kathryn Bentley to turn some heirloom earrings that weren’t getting any wear into a pinky ring and a necklace. A+ experience, would recommend!
   

• Spending some time in the high-brow, low-stakes quadrant.
   

• Filling up the “oh, we have another bday party this weekend, huh” drawer with a bunch of these. (This is my other go-to for that purpose.)
   

• Getting frankly fascinating answers to many of my knitwear questions, including my perennial favorite, “Why does everything pill?”

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Staying Toast-Y

Happy Cyber Whatever Today Is, everyone. Should you need a post-holiday-weekend decompression session, we have a Thingies episode with Kate Lindello brought to you by the delightful, indie-focused resale site she founded, Noihsaf Bazaar. Two neck-warmers make a showing! 

erica’s things

• Filling a hole in my heart the exact size and shape of the restaurant Prune with this anchovy-y cabbage.
   

• Pitching the audiobook of Alicia Keys’s memoir to anyone with ears and a heart.
   

• Marveling at the ingenuity: a bread shelf, available with or without butter and jam.
   

• Eating a bag of these—think if Swedish Fish got a culinary degree—as an afternoon snack. OOPS.

claire’s things

• Finding a silver lining to having to shlep to the Downtown Brooklyn Apple Store: empanadas worth the pain of a Genius Bar appointment.
   

• Thinking about stuffing a stocking with a wedgie.
   

• Wondering why Murphy tables aren’t everywhere.
   

• Spending too much time finding ways to offload old baby stuff and wishing this had been around when I needed it.
   

• Making plans to get festive this weekend. 

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Seeking Magic In Mushrooms

Gift guide part 2, coming atcha! If you have thoughts of your own to share—about what to get a feisty MIL or anything at all, really—join our ~shiny new~ Geneva! (It is similar to Slack…but won’t make you feel like you’re at work.)

erica’s things

• Begging the streamers to give this driving instructor a reality series yesterday.
  

• Feeling like I’m in a commercial every time I bust out one of these trash bags: How can something (home-)compostable be so strong?!?!
  

• Prescribing a comfort Google: baby owls napping.
  

• Spotting an ornament you could decorate a whole tree around.
  

• Delighting in pretty much everything about this essay collection, but especially the footnotes.

claire’s things

• Mourning the bonkers demise of the once-greatest NBA jerseys.
  

• Ogling winter fruit. (In so many forms, in fact.)
  

• Receiving a reminder that some things are classics for a reason—Exhibits A and B, submitted as noms for your kid’s holiday list.
  

• Figuring that at this point in my life I’d seen every type of makeup product there was, but this one feels different, in a good way.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Sorting Through Sweaters

Today’s the day: Our first gift-guide episode of the season has landed. If you can’t wait ‘til next week for more, dig into the installments from Christmases and Hanukkahs past.

erica’s things

• Poring over vintage Mexican dripware.
  

• Telling ya what: The ideal NYC group celebration—for bdays, holiday hangs, outings with visiting family—stars Korean BBQ + private-room karaoke at Insa.
  

• Asking if there’s any product better suited to the advent-calendar economy than washi tape.
  

• Digging into disability and design, with cameos from Lewis Miller, Oxo, and cruise control.

claire’s things

• Giving the babies in my life the gift of incredibly cute tushes.
  

• Learning about all the buzzy biz trends from Emily Sundberg (she of “hot girls drink whole milk now” fame).
  

• Standing by my commitment to alpaca sweaters because they simply do not pill—Cordera has an especially good selection right now, and this one’s a fave.
  

• Doing some light font-stalking.
  

• Feeling pleased to have a term to assign to one of my superpowers.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Holiday-Meal Prepping

This week on the podcast: our favorite expat Jamie Beck, whose incredible book An American in Provence is out tomorrow and whose Thingies are delightfully on-brand. Also, as we’re heading into the holidays, oooh, do we have some Secret Menu goodness up our sleeves. If you want in, November new-member subscription money goes to HIAS, a Jewish American nonprofit that aids refugees of all religions, ethnicities, and nationalities.

erica’s things

• Hoping to see Bára Prášilová’s work in Bazaar in 3, 2, 1. (The hair stuff!)
  

• Contemplating ripping out my baseboards.
  

• Having even more fun with this craft kit than my friend Cam did.
  

• Digging into the very useful term “anticipatory grief.”
  

• Encountering a turkey baster that’s ready for a good time.

claire’s things

• Having a surprisingly visceral reaction to this music: comforting, work-friendly, and—stick with me here—reminds me of kids’ TV shows from the eighties in the best possible way. (Adding this to my watch list.)
  

• Protecting breakables from toddler elbows with a hack picked up from earthquake-zone dwellers.
  

• Stocking up on a favorite cold-weather running accessory.
  

• Backing something special for the tweens.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Rolling With It

Happy Halloween, guys and ghouls! A costuming-themed episode is coming for you on the podcast today. Beware!

erica’s things

• Fancying up any grilled vegetable with a hearty pour of this.
  

• Revisiting nineties pager-speak.
  

• Surprising myself by how often I read Dua Lipa’s newsletter.
  

• Finding a local florist in a city besides my own without opening nine browser tabs.

claire’s things

• Getting my ballot ready.
  

• Combing through a very good inspo repository.
  

• Letting Cam have his Hockney moment with this wildly impressive (and equally adult-friendly) app.
  

• Celebrating happy hour.
  

• Adding another menorah to the mix.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Saucing Pasta

The new It sweatshirt and worth-it bedding, coming at you this week on our Thingies episode with Recho Omondi. Also, belatedly: This month’s Secret Menu new-member $$ goes to the NYC-based food-security org West Side Campaign Against Hunger, if you’ve been looking for an excuse to sign up.

erica’s things

• Searching all the big resale/vintage sites at once.

• Declaring Nora McInerny a national treasure.

• Calling all Zillow freaks: Here’s the game for you. (Is the NYT Real Estate section making acquisitions?)

• Alerting you to the calendar that always sells out. Fast.

• Eating too many of what my stomach considers Portuguese Hi-Chews.

claire’s things

• Embracing the magic of adding lemon zest to tomato sauce, alongside 99 other bits of culinary sorcery in this book.

• Predicting (hoping?) striped sofas are the new velvet sofas.

• Trying to figure out a way to work this into the newsletter because it’s the perfect tofu. (Consistency of halloumi! *Actually* doesn’t need to be pressed!)

• Daring you to tap through this without contemplating a move to Montana (to become an artist, of course).

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Hoarding Cord

We have much to tell you! 1) Margo Price (yes, that Margo Price) is on the podcast this week, sharing her sometimes-witchy Thingies and talking about her new memoir. 2) It’s that time of year: We are soliciting descriptions of your hardest-to-shop-for loved ones for our fourth-annual holiday gift guide podcast episodes. Email us, DM us, leave us a VM at 833-632-5463, consider our various inboxes a welcome outlet for your anxieties.

erica’s things

• Finding myself in the target demo of the cool antacid.

• Imagining a world where I fill a room with corduroy poufs (for kids, technically…but who cares).

• Getting my most trusted NYC weather report from a Twitter account.

• Enjoying the story of this artist nearly as much as the music of this artist.

claire’s things

• Discovering something NFL-related to care about.

• Stopping mid-scroll to ogle a wood-paneled fridge.

• Finding myself quite absorbed in a narrative podcast for the first time in awhile.

• Playing with the party-planning app all the kids are using.

• Falling for a lot of women who have all fallen for the same no-good guy.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Cutting It Out

A Guest Thingies episode, for your pleasure, at your leisure! This week, we’re chatting with Jessi Hempel, author of The Family Outing that itself is out tomorrow. If you haven’t heard about this memoir yet, this won’t be the last time.

erica’s things

• Thinking long and hard about friendship generally, male friendship specifically.

• Picturing months of warm bevs sipped from these wee cups.

• Transforming a plane movie into a date-y experience with a headphone splitter.

• Revisiting the grade-school joy of choosing my own adventure.

• Petting everything this menswear line makes. Believe me when I tell you it all feels as nice as it looks.

claire’s things

• Clocking allllll the cool-kid running brands.

• Delighting in the discovery that the family of Henri Matisse has a design house that is churning out cutie candlesticks and covetable wallpaper.

• Heading uptown to see a fave IG artist IRL.

• Buying these for my kid but consistently consuming at least half the box myself. So good.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Stepping Right Up

May this newsletter’s contents be the Jibbitz to the holes in your Monday, and may this podcast give you the Jibbitz explainer you never knew you wanted.

erica’s things

• Telling the dogs and cats to scoot out of the spotlight: The rabbits demand hutch innovation.

• Counting on this woman to make me FEEL THINGS about surfing.

• Internalizing 66-year-old fashion advice.

• Considering a Change.org petition to get one of these in my neighborhood.

• Squishing this between between Heathers and Cruel Intentions in the teen-movie canon; needing you all to watch (and read this) so we can discuss.

claire’s things

• Finding a convo between Jane Fonda and Jenny Holzer to be just as wonderful as I’d expected it to be.

• Clocking the latest in design-forward pre-fab homes.

• Admiring some things I can’t afford but can absolutely appreciate, made from vintage designer scarves and toweling by a 25-year-old gal and her 88-year-old biz partner. The charm!

• Admitting I didn’t foresee sparkling yuzu juice becoming something I’d develop a real craving for. But here we are.

• Locating the step stool (slash side table, slash extra seating) of my dreams.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Getting Saucy

Calling all current and future Dusen Dusen fans: We have the downright iconic Ellen Van Dusen on the podcast this week delivering Thingies greatness. Also, if you’re into this newsletter and want more that deliver on the style ‘n shopping front, keep scrolling for five that have filled the voids in our lives left by DailyCandy, Lucky, Racked, we could go on.

erica’s things

• Reading other people’s (absolutely mesmerizing) mail.

• Digging into the story of Slim Pickins and what it means to be the country’s first Black-owned outdoors retailer.

• Spritzing myself with what I can only describe as an elegant, nuanced version of Gap Dream and having Michelle Pfeiffer’s perfume line to thank.

• Rolling my eyes at the glut of seasoned salts that have hit the market…then sprinkling this one on, oh, everything.

claire’s things

• Learning a new-to-me term: gastrodiplomacy.

• Experiencing a breakthrough in my endless pursuit of the perfect tiny, lightweight umbrella.

• Absolutely, positively ruining myself for all other soy sauces. (This is also transcendent.)

• Bookmarking this genius tool for our next road trip.

• Getting a head start on chili season with this—in an Instant Pot! With ground chicken! Couldn’t be easier.

A Thing or Two We’re Doing Besides Rolling Up to a Meeting

Friends, it’s good reading weather, and if you’re interested in romantic fiction—and/or our interest in it—we have a podcast episode for you. In other heart-swelling news: This month’s Secret Menu new-subscriber $$ goes to BEAM, a cool org that helps underserved students study advanced mathematics.

erica’s things

• Combing the racks of a perfect-for-me vintage shop: interesting, organized, and low-stress—heyo.

• Sticking out my tongue when onion-chopping has me tearing up.

• Supporting Serena’s—and, of course, Qai Qai’s—evolution.

• Coveting an office chair, for the first time in my 39 years.

• Flipping through back issues of Gourmet.

claire’s things

• Bookmarking this useful thread in case I’m ever silly enough to sign up for another long-distance race.

• Sporting a very-shiny-but-not-at-all-sticky lip.

• Delighting in other people’s drama—this book’s got at least as many twists and turns as the internet had on offer last week.

• Adding another spot to the source list for Cam’s back-to-school look.

A Thing or Two We’re Doing Besides Looking for Rips in Our Sofas

Stroll don’t scroll! Organized whimsy! Grandma sayings! Wouldn’t you like to know what any of that means? A podcast episode awaits. We also have a mountain of archived content now available to Secret Menu subscribers, including issues of this newsletter dating all the way back to 2012 and every last installment of the fan-favorite “What Are the Cute” feature (which: if you know, you know).

erica’s things

• Falling in love with a platform for…brand guidelines.

• Putting a little salt in my water on the sweatiest days.

• Eyeing visible mending for furniture and floors. See also: Todd Oldham’s perfectly ridiculous bedroom walls.

• Counting on this crew during weeks when I don’t get it together to hit the farmers’ market. Respect a business that sells Zingerman’s pimento cheese!

claire’s things

• ID’ing my West Coast destination sandwich: the falafel wrap at Amara Kitchen.

• Admiring the most genius styling of a shirt sleeve I think I’ve ever seen.

• Nodding along vigorously—pain is not noble!

• Continuing to be a sucker for all things matchbook.

• Firing up the “Send to Kindle” button instead of leaving the same 13 tabs open in my browser for weeks on end.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Having Georgia On Our Minds

What do we love? A Thingies guest who makes a strong case, and this week, we’ve got D.S. & Durga founder Kavi Ahuja Moltz pitching us on packing playing cards for vacation and wearing socks in the summer (but not with sandals—don’t get it twisted). If you’re into these eps, have you listened to Rumaan Alam, Laura Stylez, and Harling Ross Anton?

erica’s things

• Sorting through the origins of the Trapper Keeper (which is currently avail in the *most* Saved by the Bell–era motifs imaginable).

• Drinking Wisconsin wine at two cool Brooklyn restaurants in one week. I know three’s a trend, but…

• Coming late to this Tressie McMillan Cottom essay on Dolly Parton. In a word: wow.

• Longing to visit Georgia (the country), and this design studio and its hotel group are to blame/thank.

• Chipping away at a classic, with the aid of an app.

claire’s things

• Bowing down to the only woman who can get my kid to take a deep breath. Sorcery!

• Admiring a clear-eyed commitment to a very Luca Guadagnino sensibility—come on with the denim jacket for your cigs.

• Wishing I were in NYC to catch this, which is supposed to be amazing…also thirty bucks, 70 minutes, without an intermission in sight!

• Adopting a niche habit: listening to earnings calls. IDK, friends. Boring in just the right way?

• Eyeing a chic line of canvas totes of the ilk that used to sell out instantly at Of a Kind.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Gving You The Scoop

May we discuss after-dinner candles, founder memoirs, Shakespearean riffs, and walnut larb? We may, friends, we may. Ooh, and for those of you tracking the second-kid convo we had on last week’s podcast, we have much more insight—from our listeners!—here.

erica’s things

• Getting the sports book I never knew I wanted from Taylor Jenkins Reid. It happens to be timed extremely well for those of us processing Serena-related news, too.

• Falling way too hard for a tortoiseshell cabinet knob.

• Googling frantically for the S02 release date of this exuberant show.

• Marveling at the perfect fit of a phone cable in a Lego figurine’s hand: It’s like this little guy wanted to assist with cord-organization this whole time!

• Considering silver jewelry for the love of this line.

claire’s things

• Lusting after lace pants, of all things.

• Wondering if everyone else is as enthusiastic about David Marchese’s interview column as I am. It is extremely good! Protect it at all costs!

• Reporting from the frozen-treats frontlines: This stuff is great.

• Trusting myself juuust enough to do a brow trim on my own and realizing it grants me a few more weeks between shaping appointments.

• Making a habit of filtering all my favorite newsletters into my primary folder—this one and this one are recent transplants.

A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Listing Our Favorite Foods

This week on the podcast, our thoughts on plant-sourcing, second kids, and slackers (<< looking at you, Jordan Catalano). We’ve been getting incredible voicemails lately (and playing them at the end of episodes!), so if you want in on the fun, give us a ring at 833-632-5463.

erica’s things

• Entering my ice-pop era.

• Getting into gaming, at least in the context of this glorious novel.

• Spending a moment at the intersection of pet loss and Mariah Carey.

• Feeling Midwestern as ever.

• Brainstorming what foods I’d have painted on pants. Luxardos and Zapp’s and, and, and?!

claire’s things

• Responding to all the DMs we get seeking wedding-dress advice with some ideas.

• Following this one for A+ insta stories analyzing how we interact with images ~these days~. Here she is on the Vogue war in Ukraine coverage.

• Tracking plaster’s big moment and witnessing what its level-up looks like.

• Getting as much (maybe more?) out of this as my son has, I think.

• Finding the humor and humanity in fan culture.