We discuss the past year and look ahead to 2025. Also, surprise! This is our final episode of the podcast and we share our favorite episode and what the pod has meant to us over the last 8 years.

Our favorite episodes: Quitting, Hard times, Enneagram 8 Experience (Sarah) and Everyday superpowers and Personal policies (Abby)

And because we didn't do a year in books episode this year, here are our favorite reads from 2024.

Life lately

Sarah loved her kids' winter musical performances.

Abby got her first tattoo with 13 other adult friends in Birmingham.

Reading lately

Sarah finally read the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas.

Abby enjoyed The Wedding People by Alison Espach.

Eating lately

Abby made egg bites like you can get at Starbucks.

Neil found a recipe for gnocchi pot pie, which is the best thing Sarah eaten in a long time.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!!

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Day in our (fall) lives

We share the details of our days from Tuesday October 22nd. You can also listen to our first day-in-the-life episode or similar episodes from 2020 and 2022 if you’d like to see how our days have changed. Links we mentioned:

• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
• The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln
• Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over American, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

Life lately

Abby and Sarah both share about recent trips.

Reading lately

Abby enjoyed listening to Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle.

Sarah read Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy by Cait West.

Eating lately

Sarah enjoyed new camping food while Abby was disappointed with Texas fair food.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

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Life lately

Sarah has a running injury and is rethinking her fall race plans.

Abby and fam had an incredible long weekend at the beach.

Reading lately

Sarah shared two nonfiction hits: Behind Their Screens by Emily Weinstein and Carrie James and Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey.

Abby read yet another witch book, The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings.

Our dream lives

We talk about what we dream of for our lives in 5, 10, 20 years, as well as what dreams we'd have if money was no object or if we could go back in time and change things.

Eating lately

Abby has found the perfect snack for work: individual cottage cheese cups.

Sarah made a vegan chocolate cake for Neil's birthday.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

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Transportation update

We share our current transportation situations, how they've changed since our last episode on the topic, the challenges and joys of this stage, and our transportation dreams for the future.

Life Lately

Abby is over the summer and ready for fall.

Sarah's family is adjusting to new school year routines with HP in middle school.

Reading lately

Abby loved the witchy vibe of Weyward by Emilia Hart.

Sarah got a lot out of listening to Die With Zero by Bill Perkins. She originally heard about the book from this podcast interview.

Eating lately

Sarah and E are making Thai iced tea with boba (and these straws).

Abby enjoyed the taste of fall with a new apple cake recipe.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

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We chat about the ways in which we support our kids to learn to make choices and how that's changed in the different seasons of parenting.

Life lately

Sarah and her people had an amazing week at family camp.

Abby is over summer and ready for school to start again please and thank you.

Reading lately

Sarah read the contemporary romance Better Left Unsent by Lia Lewis

Abby loved the trio of queer romances in the Love and Other Disasters series by Anita Kelly.

Eating lately

Abby made the crunchy roll bowl from Pinch of Yum.

Sarah and E are testing out a chocolate peanut butter cake recipe.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

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Checking in on 2024

We reflect on how the year is going so far, remind ourselves of our words for the year, and look ahead to the second half of 2024.

Life lately

Abby is starting a new job.

Sarah loved the show The Break: A New Rock Musical.

Reading lately

Abby thoroughly enjoyed Ink, Blood, Sister, Scribe by Emma Törzs.

Sarah recommends two romantic comedies: Funny Story by Emily Henry and The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren.

Eating lately

Sarah tried a new breakfast casserole (with croissants!).

Abby's family enjoyed this street corn recipe.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

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Family life lately

We chat about what's going well and not so well in our families these days, as well as share some optimism about things that have been hard in the past and aren't any more.

Life lately

Sarah's children are out of school and summer has begun!

Abby is eagerly anticipating a friend group camping trip to Rickwood Caverns State Park.

Reading lately

Sarah read the nonfiction book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.

Abby enjoyed the spicy romance Scandalized by Ivy Owens, which is a pseud for Lauren Billings (half of romance-writing duo Christina Lauren).

Eating lately

Abby is very into these probiotic sodas from Trader Joe's.

Sarah introduced her children to cinnamon sugar bagels, and they are a hit.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

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Obsessions

We share what we've been into lately, from camping to curry. Links mentioned:

• 1000 Hours Outside podcast about camping
• Where Should We Camp Next? Budget Camping by Stephanie and Jeremy Puglisi

Life lately

Abby's family is down to one car after the Volvo's transmission died.

Sarah graduated from library school!

Reading lately

Abby listened to You Need a Budget by Jesse Meacham and Sarah read the YA historical fiction novel We Are Not Free by Traci Chee.

Eating lately

Sarah is making curry with these curry pastes.

Abby was delighted when her favorite vanilla creme donuts were back in stock.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening

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