Episode 316 || The Kids' Table: Spring

Listen in this week as Annie and guest, cousin and Bookshelf Community Manager, Ashley Sherlock chat about their Spring reading, listening, watching and buying lists.

The books mentioned in this week’s episode can be purchased from The Bookshelf.

Reading:

Watching:

Listening:

Buying:

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie is reading Kisses and Croissants by by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau and Ashley is reading Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free media mail shipping on all your online book orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

episode transcript

210415_FTFP_Episode 316_mixdown

Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South.

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”

- Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and today, I’m joined by my cousin and Bookshelf community manager Ashley Sherlock. Every holiday of our lives, we’ve sat next to or near each other at our family’s kids’ table, and each season, we’re taking those kids’ table conversations and bringing them to the podcast. Today, we’re sharing what we’ve been reading, watching, listening to, and buying this spring.

 Hey Ashley.

Ashley: [00:01:17] Hello.

Annie: [00:01:18] Welcome back to the podcast. Thanks your position changed.

Ashley: [00:01:23] Yes, it did.

Annie: [00:01:24] You are now officially back as a member of the bookshelf staff. We're so thrilled to have you.

Ashley: [00:01:29] I'm back, baby.

Annie: [00:01:30] Um, you are community manager, which means Ashley is the voice behind our instagram. She is in the comments, interacting with you, responding to your DMS, responding to your Patreon dms, except when it's me and I'll tell you it's me. I'll say Annie, and we're just so thrilled to have some more help for these growing parts of the business. So welcome back.

 Thanks. I'm glad to be here.

 And welcome back to the podcast and we have a lot to talk about. We last spoke mid [00:02:00] February. So we're now doing our spring check-in. It is April. I was going to say March, that's no longer true. It is April. This podcast episode will release in mid April. And so it's time to do a check-in. How are ya? How's life?

Ashley: [00:02:16] Um life, this life I'm just living it. I don't know how to answer that question.

Annie: [00:02:22] I just wrote an email newsletter for our Bookshelf customers and in it, I said, we're moving forward and things seemed fine, but I am decidedly not.

Ashley: [00:02:34] I think that's accurate. I was driving up here today and I was like, does my life feel like it's in shambles? Yes. Is there anything I can do about it at this present moment? Not really.

Annie: [00:02:47] No. Now we're just, we're doing our best and I just keep telling myself, it took us a long time to adjust to life during a global pandemic so it makes sense that it's going to take us a minute [00:03:00] to kind of come out of the pandemic, which is not over like the pandemic is still happening, but we are getting vaccinated.

You and I are recording this episode maskless in person because we're both vaccinated. And so things are definitely moving forward, but I do think it's going to take us a minute, so we need to extend some grace.

Ashley: [00:03:19] That feels right.

Annie: [00:03:20] Seems fair. So shall we start with what we're reading?

Ashley: [00:03:23] Let's do it.

Annie: [00:03:24] Okay. I'm going to let you go first. We're going to go back and forth kind of like we did last time. Okay. What have you been reading this season?

Ashley: [00:03:32] This season um, I started reading Good Company which you recommended to me, I borrowed your advanced reader copy. It's so good. I, uh, came for the theater aspect. Yes. Staying for the friends, turned into family aspect and the multiple perspectives of the same problem aspect.

Annie: [00:03:54] Yes. Yes, I, that is, I have listed in front of me three books that I [00:04:00] just love for sping, like specifically for spring time. And I think Good Company is one of them because. I love that theme. I knew you'd like the theater element.

Ashley: [00:04:08] Love the theater.

Annie: [00:04:09] But there is also where these families and friends are grappling with the same thing, but they're all approaching it from really different perspectives and I think that's nice. I think that goes back to building and shaping empathy. I'm so glad you're liking it.

Ashley: [00:04:25] It's kind of, kind of helpful for the times.

Annie: [00:04:27] Yeah. I'll just go ahead and tell you that my other, so Good Company. I listed Good Company, Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny. Good company is by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny, Olympus, Texas by Stacy Swan.

Those are like my three must read fiction titles for spring. I, and the reason I say for spring is because I have been in a weird reading rut for the past 10 days, which I know to the world is not a long time. But as a book [00:05:00] seller and somebody who makes her living recommending new books. It has 10 days is a long time.

So I finally got out of my rut. We'll talk about it later, but I, this spring I'm looking for, except for some of my non-fiction reading, I'm looking for light, fun family dramas, but like fixable family dramas. Okay. And Olympus, Texas is not as light as Early Morning Riser and Good Company, but the writing is so good. That those are like my three, if I could only recommend three books this spring fiction, those would be my nice.

Ashley: [00:05:40] Yeah. I like it. I w uh, Early Morning Riser on my radar as well, but I hadn't heard as much about. Olympus, Texas.

Annie: [00:05:46] Olympus, Texas as a debut. I talked about it on the March reading recap podcast episode. I just really loved it. I think he'll be in my top 10 of the year.

Ashley: [00:05:54] Oh, well already?

Annie: [00:05:56] Yeah. What else you got?

Ashley: [00:05:58] Um, so that's the main, [00:06:00] main one in the book area.

Annie: [00:06:02] Sorry, Have you seen that thing on Instagram. I think it's that comedian, Caitlin Riley. Do you follow her at all? She does the WASP mom. Have you seen her? Anyway, she's very funny, but she did something where she starts talking in this like, like really uncomfortable voice that you just did that voice.

Ashley: [00:06:22] Yeah. That's, that's how I feel. Um, my other, so I have two more on my reading list, but they are both Instagram accounts, um, who posts things that I read.

Um, the first one is Upworthy. I'm not sure if you've heard of that account, but I share some of their content quite often. It's quite pleasant and I'm looking for a lot of pleasant at this present moment. And sometimes, I don't know, sometimes it'll make you cry in a good way, but most of the time it was just like, Hey, you know what? People are still, still okay.

Annie: [00:06:52] Doing good things. I, I'm going to wrap up my books. Well, what am I going to do? Hmm, [00:07:00] I did want to talk about, so we are, we are now in the second quarter of the year. And so for the first quarter of the year, I felt like I did a really good job of sticking to my reading resolutions.

So I read Persuasion by Jane Austen. And I read some good nonfiction. So for spring my goals, I've  I've not finished these yet, but this is my goal. I want to finish Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen, which I started. I want to finish my audio book experience of Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. And I want to start and maybe finish Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley.

Those are like my to complete my reading, uh, what did Hunter and I call them? My reading intentions for the year. That would keep me kind of on track. I think if I could finish those three things in this quarter, which gives me instill end of june. So I feel like those are doable. That's a doable goal.

Yeah. And also kind of in line with my non-fiction goal, I'm hosting a book club for an area book club here in [00:08:00] Thomasville. I'm hosting a book club conversation on You Never Forget Your First that George Washington biography. So that's going to be very interesting and I'm hosting that at the end of April.

So I think that's really, I really have tried hard. I don't want to lose sight as we enter second quarter of the year, I feel like we can forget the goals we set in January, but I don't want to cause I really liked those reading resolutions and those reading intentions. So if I could kind of keep my finger on the pulse of these non-fiction titles, if I could finish that second Jane Austen work, I would feel like I was in pretty good shape at the end of June.

Ashley: [00:08:31] Good for you for reading intentions, man, because I have learned that I am more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of person than I thought I was.

Annie: [00:08:40] I think you are like, I would be curious if you took Myers-Briggs again, how close you'd be on J and P. I still think you're a J.

Ashley: [00:08:47] I'm definitely a J but I think I'm closer to P than I originally thought even like, when I, I mean, I read intentionally, but I don't like set intentions. Um, same with movies. I prefer to go [00:09:00] in blindly.

Annie: [00:09:01] Going cold. Yeah. Yeah. The reading intentions I have discovered has helped me in my reading rut, earlier this week I did not know what to pick up and so I was like, Oh, well I need to be reading Jane Austen cause I don't know how long it's going to take me to finish Sense & Sensibility. So I picked it up. And so I will say having a reading and like a guiding intention did kind of help me when I was in my little, my little slump. Yeah. Um, okay. What's your other Instagram account?

Ashley: [00:09:27] Other Instagram account is called Poetry is Not a Luxury.

Annie: [00:09:31] I love this account too.

Ashley: [00:09:32] Annie, I'm so mad that you follow both of these account. Nothing, for those listening I never, I can never say anything new around this person. Story of my life.

Annie: [00:09:43] Well, to be fair, I don't follow up where the, I think I only know them because of you. Okay. So you should take that as a win. Poetry is not a Luxury though, man occasionally has the power to move me.

Ashley: [00:09:53] Oh yeah, they're good. Yeah. They're very good. And they're good if you are not a huge poetry reader, but you [00:10:00] just want to incorporate, it's just a little part of your day.

Annie: [00:10:02] Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was a good one.

Ashley: [00:10:05] Good job. Thank you. Three cheers.

Annie: [00:10:08] Look it's hard when you're an enneagram five, you spend a lot of time researching things. It's not, it's just ingrained in me.

Ashley: [00:10:14] When you're enneagram nine you just can't figure out what you want. So this is it.

Annie: [00:10:19] Okay. So my. Last book is the one I just finished is the one I read four our I want it that YA book club. It's 145h Street by Walter Dean Myers . Did you have to read Walter Dean Myers in school?

Ashley: [00:10:33] nuh uh

Annie: [00:10:33] I didn't either. And I'm pretty peeved about it. I shared my frustration on our book club conversation, but we picked this one up for our March read and I loved it so much and I wanted to plug it here because this is very early, but there is a story in here called "A Christmas Story" that I do not understand why it has not been included in like holiday anthologies.

I don't understand it. It's [00:11:00] one of the most delightful Christmas stories I've read. And I just don't understand why a, I wasn't required to read Walter Dean Myers in school. I don't know if I was too old, like slightly meaning some of his books came out after I was just over the middle grade, young adult book line.

Um, I don't know, but I'm frustrated by it. But the second thing is, I just feel like even if you don't read this whole collection, it's like a little collection of short stories for middle grade readers, really young adult readers, I would say. This story called "A Christmas Story" is just delightful and like put it in your back pocket to read this, um, you know, holiday season fourth quarter much later, much later. I just want to put a plug right here because I know I'm going to forget. I know I'm going to forget to tell people to read it in November or December. So this is me telling you in April.

Ashley: [00:11:49] I'll make a note. I made a mental note not to promote it in December.

Annie: [00:11:52] Okay. So it's really good and well worth your time. Do you have anything else?

Ashley: [00:11:57] That's it on that category.

Annie: [00:11:59] Okay. Can I [00:12:00] put just two more quick plugs? Because I wanted to not just talk about books because I feel like I talk about books all the time. I wanted to mention that I became a grownup. I already had a subscription to the online New York times, but I got frustrated the other day about the Washington Post paywall.

I just wanted to read a dumb article. I don't even know which one it was, but I finally broke down and I was like, you know what? I think I can budget for two subscriptions. So I have bought a subscription to the Washington Post and it makes me very happy to no longer be fighting a paywall and I'm supporting journalism. So that's the first thing. And then the second thing I'm recommending this to you for real. Did you ever read the book? I did not, uh, called Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Ashley: [00:12:43] I'm pretty sure I owned it, but I don't think I read

Annie: [00:12:45] it. It's really popular a few years ago. Like a book club book, maybe even back. I think it might've been like a Reese Witherspoon pick or maybe just a Reese Witherspoon movie, maybe just a movie she made. Anyway, I did not read that book. However, this week in [00:13:00] my web wanderings, I came across this article posted on the Marshall project, but I also think you can access it through vulture about Sara Gruen who's the author of Water for Elephants, and she became, true story.

 She became obsessed with this she believed wrongfully convicted incarcerated person. And so she has spent the last several years using her own money like maybe even spending almost all of her money to try to get this person out of prison. It is fascinating if you were at all interested in like innocence project, adjacent stuff, but it is also fascinating just watching a woman who probably spends a lot of her time. Right. She's a writer probably doing a lot of research and seeing how that could maybe hit an unhealthy note.

 It's like a cautionary tale for someone like me who could easily become obsessed about something like that. Like who could really, so he's he [00:14:00] started writing her letters because he read her book in prison. Okay. And so they've developed this kind of friendship relationship, but she became convinced of his innocence. And I think still believes in his innocence, but people don't realize, or maybe we do. It costs a lot of money to kind of get that the legal counsel that you need to perhaps get someone out of prison.

It is fascinating. I cannot recommend it enough if we had our Bookshelf article club, which in the back of my mind, I still want to make happen. This is the article I'd make us all read it's it is banana.

Ashley: [00:14:31] So wait, this is an article or a book. It's an article. Okay. Yeah. Which means, sorry, I got confused about water for elephants.

Annie: [00:14:39] Water for elephants is the book but I guess I just mean like, if you are bogged down by reading right now, can I just recommend long form journalism? Like let's do feature stories, like let's do it. That's why I want my article club.

Ashley: [00:14:50] That's reachable. I like that idea. I'd join.

Annie: [00:14:52] Yeah. We've had several podcasts listeners volunteered to help me host. So maybe it's just a matter of time. Yeah. Maybe we'll get on that. Yeah. [00:15:00] Okay. What are you watching? Okay. I hope it's more than me. Mine is terrible.

Ashley: [00:15:05] Mine is not, it's not great. I had to think about it and I also might've started something last night. And just so I can tell you about it.

Annie: [00:15:14] Isn't that fun? The best part of your job though?

Ashley: [00:15:16] Yeah, it's so fun because, so when I started is Ted Lasso, cause you've been telling me about it. So for so long, and I'm only on the second episode, but it is an absolute delight.

Annie: [00:15:29] Are you watching it with your family or by yourself?

Ashley: [00:15:31] By myself.

Annie: [00:15:31] Okay. Cause I do think Caroline would like it. Caroline, our cousin, not Caroline our our bookshelf staffer.

Ashley: [00:15:38] Her cousin, my sister.

Annie: [00:15:39] Oh Right. Your sibling, sorry, family dynamic. I think she would like it. Chad just started it. Okay, brother. I love it. He is loving it. He, he made the connection I did not, which is that okay. One of the, Oh gosh, writers or producers of Ted Lasso was also the right one of the writers [00:16:00] producers for Scrubs, which he and I both watch. And I'm thinking about making Scrubs my summer rewatch.

Ashley: [00:16:05] And that would be fun. I've never seen scrubs all the way through.

Annie: [00:16:08] Oh, I don't think I've seen it all the way through either, but I really have, I watched it because Chad did, but Ted lasso, man, do you have a crush on Jason Sudeikis yet?

Ashley: [00:16:16] Um, right now I was just thinking about that this morning. So I started episode two this morning and I was like, If he was like a few years younger than this would be the man for me.

Annie: [00:16:25] I wanted to show you. He's my wallpaper on my phone.

Ashley: [00:16:32] I love him so much.

Annie: [00:16:34] He's so great. Um, he also gave a really. I know a lot of people thought he was perhaps under the influence of something, but he gave a lovely speech at the golden Globes. I thought a lovely rambley acceptance speech that I thoroughly enjoyed. Three cheers for Ted lasso.

It was on our Christmas card we loved it so much in 2020. Really? Yeah. Like it was one of our Christmas cards for 2020. We did the 10 works of art saved our lives and it had Ted Lasso.

Ashley: [00:16:59] Did you send us a [00:17:00] Christmas card? Yeah, I never saw it. That sounds really cool.

Annie: [00:17:04] It was really cute. Okay. Um, mine is terrible and less good. And by every definition of the word good. Okay. But I, I have to be honest that I have not been watching a lot of scripted TV. Instead my friend Courtney who has been on this podcast before she is our Royals experts and aficionados. She got me hooked on the British TV sensation Love Island.

Ashley: [00:17:43] Sitting here, sitting here with sweaty palms.

Annie: [00:17:45] Okay. I need to, again, stress for everyone. This is not good, but any of the term good, but I needed something to get me through the [00:18:00] two months of the legislative session, I needed something jordan would not under any circumstances, miss or want to walk. And I wanted something to like take up a lot of time. And we're talking, these seasons are 40 episodes long, and you can watch them in the background while you're doing your laundry. It's like the bachelor meets survivor meets big brother. Okay. So plus just a lot of skin.

Ashley: [00:18:26] So much skin Oh my goodness. These people never wear clothes.

Annie: [00:18:30] And so I just feel like I don't, according as probably listening to this and dying, laughing, I am so grateful. Like I'd like to be clear. This isn't like, again, not good, but it is fun and, and I needed something fun and mindless. And this is definitely that. Plus you get to learn British terminology, which is very fun. Courtney is the expert. She started me on season five. I've watche...

Ashley: [00:18:59] This [00:19:00] feels like confession or something very revealing.

Annie: [00:19:03] I've watched five, six, and now I'm on the almost done with four.

Ashley: [00:19:07] Saying it out loud, is that doesn't sound like a lot, but when you, like, I'm also, I'm watching season five now. And when you, when you know how long it takes to get through it, That's that's a, yeah, it's a pretty big feat.

Annie: [00:19:21] It is. It is a big feet. And you know what? I'd like to be clear. I'm not ashamed, or I wouldn't be talking about it here, but it is certainly a certain kind of TV. Like it's just mindless reality television. Although I do think far more entertaining than the bachelor. Oh, for sure.

Ashley: [00:19:38] I'm, I'm watching it too. And. I agree. It's not good, but it works. Yes. I'm watching it because, uh, I just finished Dawson's Creek and it was super dramatic and I'm not going to lie. The ending hit me really hard and I needed something that was not that.Yeah. And this, this is it.

Annie: [00:19:57] Yeah. I just needed something and I [00:20:00] love smart scripted TV, but I don't need that right now. Yeah. When Jordan is done with legislative session, we'll get back into like, I dunno something else, but I needed something. I even started watching like some HBO documentaries and I couldn't do it.

Like my brain space is not there right now, but I have started watching two, I think, two episodes every night while cooking my dinner and cleaning my kitchen. And it is delightful. Highly recommend.

Ashley: [00:20:24] I second that.

Annie: [00:20:25] Okay. What else are you watching?

Ashley: [00:20:26] Um, okay, so this is not a TV show or a movie, but I wanted to plug it here. You have already heard me talk about this a lot. People that follow me on Instagram probably think I'm obnoxious about this, but it is my workout program.

Annie: [00:20:42] Oh yeah.

Ashley: [00:20:42] It's called the limit and it's run by this girl named Beth Nicely, who is a former Rockette, I believe. And also a Broadway performer. And it's all like the whole program is dance. Okay. And it [00:21:00] is the most fun I have ever had working out in my entire life. And it's also, I think my longest. This is , currently in my longest working out relationship that I've ever had.

Annie: [00:21:12] Yeah. You've been doing it a long time.

Ashley: [00:21:14] Almost a year. I was there for like her, like her very first, like free Saturday class. Um, and I like it because she is like the most positive and kind and encouraging workout instructor I've ever had, which I am all about, and it's straight up dance.

Annie: [00:21:31] That sounds really fun.

Ashley: [00:21:33] It's literally a party. And she, she has live classes, which is what I do because I am not disciplined enough to do the on-demand version, but she also has a very, uh, Hardy on demand presence.

Annie: [00:21:46] Maybe I'll look up her on-demand classes because I'm the opposite of you. I think I have the discipline to do on-demand, but I do not have the wherewithal to do them live.

Ashley: [00:21:54] I have to do a live. I got to feel like I'm missing out on something. Otherwise, I just, I don't care.

[00:22:00] Annie: [00:22:00] Um, on a scale of one being, Hmm, one being line dancing and 10 being choreograph, Broadway style moves, what level of difficulty is this?

Ashley: [00:22:17] I would give this, I mean, it's a hard workout, right? But if you stick with it, you can learn. The move. So probably a six.

Annie: [00:22:28] Okay. Six, maybe seven for some of the dances. I need a three.

Ashley: [00:22:33] That's fair. Now look, you don't, you don't have to, like, I'm not a dancer. I have no dancing background.

Annie: [00:22:39] But you have rhythm.

Ashley: [00:22:40] I, I was about to say rhythm is not required, but it is a plus, but most of the time I'm just flopping around.

Annie: [00:22:48] I will say line dancing is most fun I ever had exercising and I mourn the loss of line dancing every day.

Ashley: [00:22:55] I just, it makes, this makes me so happy.

Annie: [00:22:58] I love that. [00:23:00] What makes me happy is.

Ashley: [00:23:03] This is going somewhere different.

Annie: [00:23:05] It is. How do you know this is why Love Island is fine? Because in my spare time, what I've been doing for fun is taking Sharon McMahon AKA Sharon Says So on Instagram, I've been taking her government for grownups classes and boy, what a good time. The high that you get from your dance workouts is what I get from these government for grownups classes.

I have taken gosh, three of them. I think in March I did. Let's see judicial process. I also, in February for my birthday, bought myself a ticket to the constitution class. I took a class on abortion. This month in April I have signed up for the one about political parties and the deep dive into gun control laws.

Ashley: [00:23:53] I. This is, this is where the, uh, Annie and Ashley venn diagramm does not cross.

Annie: [00:23:58] For us where it [00:24:00] splits. Um, I am having so much fun. For those of you who are not familiar. Sharon Says So is this fantastic Instagram account that I really do recommend, but partly. For me and for Ashley's purposes, I'm going to explain Sharon as I do for my family. Sharon McMahon is if Jordan Jones, Annie Jones and Ashley Sherlock combined into one person. So she's an Enneagram three, jordan. IMTJ, Annie. Who loves whales, Ashley.

Her little nature moments are so Ashley that they've literally sometimes sent me the same video Sharon doesn't DM me privately. I just see the videos and Ashley will have already sent them to me separately because that's how much Ashley and Sharon are similar. But the way she teaches is to me, very similar to how Jordan Jones teaches. Jordan Jones is just not a super emotional person.

And what I really like about that is when we're talking about highly emotional things, And issues. [00:25:00] Jordan is able to remain calm and so is Sharon. And I really appreciate that. So I love sharing that. So on Instagram, but I really like her Zoom classes. I have thoroughly enjoyed them and I'm going to keep paying money for them because I really, they helped me kind of process the issues and.

I'm discovering that I'm really lucky to be married and never thought I'd say this lucky to be married to an attorney who does know a lot of these things, but I never went to law school. So it's nice to, for me to kind of learn some things that maybe I did not learn in college or in high school. So Sharon says, so her government for grownups classes, I love them.

Ashley: [00:25:35] Does she have any. Um, broader classes, because I feel like I could be into those. I follow her on Instagram as well and find her helpful. Yeah. But I mean, she posts a lot of Instagram stories and that can get overwhelming, but history and government were always my worst subject in school. So I feel like I could benefit from class like that.

Annie: [00:25:55] Her broader classes are, for example, the judicial process class I took, [00:26:00] the constitution class and then this month it's going to be the political parties one and her deep dives are heavy in the legal cases like, Oh, so frustrating. I watched the abortion one and then was prepared to tell Jordan all these things.

And he was like, did she talk about this case and this case? And I was like, Oh yeah, He knew it and he wasn't even trying to show off. He just, you know, he learned those things in school. Um, but I think you would like her, her regular classes. I, you might like the deep dives too, but the constitution class was like to me, high school or college level stuff, but she's a really good teacher and I don't, I did not always have good teachers for those subjects either.

Ashley: [00:26:40] That's nuts. I know she's a good teacher because Jordan is an excellent teacher. Used to tutor me in math.

Annie: [00:26:45] That's all. I forgot that.

Ashley: [00:26:46] He tutored me in math and you tutored me in English. You didn't tutor me. You were my homeschool teacher.

Annie: [00:26:51] But those were good times. I mean, I'm glad, I'm glad you're grown up now, but they were fun. Okay. [00:27:00] Any more watching for you?

Ashley: [00:27:01] Um, one more. Um, one of the things that I walked into blindly was the new Jennifer Garner movie Yes Day.

Annie: [00:27:07] Oh. Which one?

Ashley: [00:27:09] I am just a fan of Jennifer Garner. She's a very pleasant follow on the gram. Um, and Yes Day is not  necessarily something I would recommend to you. But for those of us, those of you listening have children. I don't have children. If you have kids, it's a fun family movie. I watched it with my sister who really only watches full house and hallmark Christmas movies. And she loved it.

Annie: [00:27:36] The chain. Yeah. We've tried this yesterday concept before as, and it was a win and I'd like to bring that back to okay. I don't have any more watch love Island and Sharon McMahon.

Ashley: [00:27:51] We've done pretty good bouncing each other out.

Annie: [00:27:54] Okay. So I'm moving on to listening to. What you're listening to?

Ashley: [00:27:58] Um, okay. So have [00:28:00] you listened to any of Taylor Swift's new stuff?

Annie: [00:28:03] I haven't please explain. Why do I feel confused by this concept? I know why she's doing it. But is, are these just res recordings of these songs?

Ashley: [00:28:11] Okay. I don't think so. And I am not super informed because she released one song today. I believe April 7th, but it sounds, I've never heard the song before. And there's another song that she's really said I never heard before and I'd know that she released Love Story Taylor's version, which is a rerecording. Um, but the song she released today is called Mr. Perfectly Fine. And it is going to be like my new windows down summer song.

Annie: [00:28:40] Oh, good. I think I'm going to start a summer 2021 playlist and I'll add it.

Ashley: [00:28:44] Yeah, that needs to be on there. Super fun. Oh,

Annie: [00:28:47] yay. My summer jam is going to continue to be. I'm just going to keep talking about it like the 35 year old millennial, I am Driver's License by Olivia Rodrigo, still very into it. Then I [00:29:00] listened to her new song, Deja Vu, also here for that. I like the old person I am went to target and was like, where's the album? Can I buy the album? She doesn't have an album yet. It's not available for purchase as far as I know. Um, but I definitely went looking for it like an old person.

Ashley: [00:29:14] Like the 35 year old you are.

Annie: [00:29:16] Yes. But I really like Olivia Rodrigo. And can I tell you if you also like the song driver's license and the SNL skit driver's license, which I highly recommend. I am going to plug another listening, which is one of my favorite podcasts is back.

It is called Still Processing. The New York times podcast with Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham. And they are New York times culture writers. I love them. I love Wesley Morris a lot, and they just did an episode and I think it was called Bridges, but it's about bridges in songs and the importance of the bridge and a song.

And they base it on Olivia Rodrigo's Driver's License, but then they talk about a lot of other songs. It was a really fun, listen.

Ashley: [00:29:59] That's fascinating.

[00:30:00] Annie: [00:30:00] It was very fun. And they talk about Taylor Swift as the queen of the bridge. Yeah.

Ashley: [00:30:05] And I feel a little bit like an idiot, because when you said bridges and songs, I immediately thought of the London bridge.

Annie: [00:30:11] Different names, like songs where the word bridge appears.

Uh, so anyway, you should listen that podcast episode, I think you would really like it. Yeah. I think I will. All right. What else?

Ashley: [00:30:26] Um, another thing that I have been listening to is, um, Call Baby the audio book version. Finished it.

Annie: [00:30:33] Did you? Yeah. Okay.

Ashley: [00:30:36] Really good book, whether you listen or read it highly recommend, but the audio book is quite pleasant. I've been kind of off the audio book train for a while now, pretty much since I stopped driving to Thomas Hill every day, they kind of went by the wayside, but I picked them back up and this was the first one that I have listened to in a really long time.

 And I can't, I just progressed to look up the artist's name before I got here, but [00:31:00] she has a very soothing voice. Hunter, I think said it sounds like, uh, you're listening in on some like family gossip or something. Um, and I agree with that.

Annie: [00:31:09] Okay. I might, so I started that book and really liked it, but I've been having trouble with literary fiction reading lately and I liked maybe supplementing it with some audio book listening.

Ashley: [00:31:19] This is a good one.

Annie: [00:31:21] Okay. I am plugging a playlist. So Kendra Adachi, who we all know from Lazy Genius. I knew I should have said that one first. Okay.

Ashley: [00:31:31] Are you, are you talking about her breezy instrumental playlist?

Annie: [00:31:34] Isn't it so good?

Ashley: [00:31:35] I haven't finished like listening to the whole thing, but yes it is.

Annie: [00:31:39] I wasn't sure because sometimes. Okay. Inside baseball. We have had several musicologists work at the bookshelf. Olivia is a former ballerina. They love classical music and they will sometimes play it at the bookshelf. And I don't always love that vibe, but this instrumental [00:32:00] playlist by Kendra Adachi lazy genius fame. She didn't like write these songs.

She compiled this playlist. It is so good. And I I'd like to say I do like classical music. Can I just tell everyone that when I was a child Nina, our mutual aunt, Nina used to give me um, instrumental music with dolphin sounds and music tapes. And that's what I would listen to while I did my homework, because I heard that if you listen to instrumental music while you were learning it, it made you smarter.

Ashley: [00:32:29] You can't hear it but I rolled my eyes.

Annie: [00:32:32] So big. So I shouldn't give me that you were too old for cassette tapes. These were, these were cassette tapes and it was like, it was like classical music, but then dolphins were so weird. They were really nice. I really liked them, but that's probably the last time I've listened to classical music.

Yeah. And so sometimes I used to come downstairs, not as much anymore, but like I used to come downstairs and Olivia and Kate would be like jamming [00:33:00] out to classical ballet music, and I'd be a little bit lost. Like this is nice, but it's also sounds angry sometimes. Like you can see the dances in your head. They, they jammed to different classical music than what this is.

Ashley: [00:33:13] This is the classical music that I can also jam to.

Annie: [00:33:16] Me too. And I love it so much. I've listened to it on walk on dry, like drive with my driving with my windows rolled down with normally that's a very different vibe, but this, I feel like covers a lot of territory. So it's called her breezy. Instrumental playlist. Sounds like both of us have really liked it.

Ashley: [00:33:32] Girl can make a playlist.

Annie: [00:33:34] Yeah, she can. And why I mean, I will make a playlist, but like, she it's like a science to her. Yeah. And so it's really good.

Ashley: [00:33:41] I don't know what, I don't know where to find these songs.

Annie: [00:33:43] No, no, I just, my, you and I talked about this, the way I make a playlist is, well, I really like the song. Add to my 2021 playlist.

Ashley: [00:33:51] Yeah. I have the one playlist.

Annie: [00:33:53] One per year. Do you have any other listening twos?

Ashley: [00:33:57] Um, yeah, [00:34:00] there's another playlist and it's called hot girl walk.

Annie: [00:34:04] That's your love Island flight show.

Ashley: [00:34:08] It's a  good playlist. And, um, I found it because of a Tik tok. Um, this just keeps getting worse, but, uh, Oh, shoot. I didn't take a screenshot of it, but you listen to hot girl walk and it's supposed to be for like, when you're kind of feeling down about yourself. Okay. Um, and there's a couple of rules like you, I think you can't think about like any EXs or anything. Um, I don't, I don't remember, but. I dunno, it's basically what you listen to when you're on a walk and you want to strike your stuff and feel a little bit better.

Annie: [00:34:41] Okay. Is it on Spotify?

Ashley: [00:34:43] Mhm.

Annie: [00:34:43] Okay. We'll link to that as well. I also want to put a plug in for the playlist called the first spring. This is by Laurie Ferguson. She. Oh, gosh, I think that's her name now I'm second guessing myself. She wrote the book Handle With Care. She does great playlist as well, which I don't think [00:35:00] people know her for it or anything, but they're really fun.

Often have kind of folk music and instrumental music. And so there's one called the first spring that I'll make sure we link to as well.

Ashley: [00:35:09] I didnt know she did that.

Annie: [00:35:10] Yeah. Okay. Buying. This was a big category during the pandemic.

Ashley: [00:35:16] We crack my knuckles for this one. I'm ready.

Annie: [00:35:18] Okay, good. Because I don't really, I'm just going to go first and say I bought plants. I really, yeah, that's right. Bought my plants. Didn't even ask anybody's opinion. Just bought the ones for my front stoop, watered them and everything. They're still alive.

Ashley: [00:35:31] Nice.

Annie: [00:35:32] They've been alive for a month.

Ashley: [00:35:33] That's impressive.

Annie: [00:35:34] Right. Anyway. So that's the first thing I bought. What about you?

Ashley: [00:35:38] Well, okay. First of all, let me just say that me having my debit card number memorized on a bad day is really dangerous. I like today I came up here and, um, dm'd Allie B on Instagram and have them hold a jumpsuit for me yesterday. Yesterday was not a great day. Okay. Um, and I, I bought a workout [00:36:00] outfit and inexpensive jumpsuit from downtown Thomasville.

Yeah, those aren't what I want to talk about is the category. The thing I really want to talk about is my journals. Okay. That I bought from the Bookshelf. They're by 1canoe2. You've seen them. You've heard me talk about them, but I don't know if you've actually held them in your hands and touch the paper because this paper it's different. It's much thicker than normal.

And they're the, they're the notebooks in the store that, um, they're like the flatly.

Annie: [00:36:34] I don't, that's what I was going to ask. They're the ones with the binding that makes it like flat.

Ashley: [00:36:37] Yeah. And the covers are hard. The pages are so smooth and so thick. I pair them with a lapel pin and it just glides over them so well. I have three out of four that the Bookshelf carries. Um, and yeah, sure. I get paid I wouldn't be buying the fourth one. I don't even care. I think I don't care what's on the inside of them. I started off with the line one, cause that's my [00:37:00] preference, but now I have a dotted one and a blank one. So I feel like I'm just going to like. Go from, you know, super structured all the way to blank where there's just going to be chaos and I'm okay with that.

Annie: [00:37:11] Are you using them all for different things right now?

Ashley: [00:37:13] Well, I'm only using one because unfortunately I started. Two other brand new journals right before I bought these but I will be using these.

Annie: [00:37:22] Okay. Fine. I get so excited. I think we talked about this the other day, where, when you actually finished a journal, you just feel like it's like finishing a tube of

Ashley: [00:37:30] chapstick. It's like a new kind of confidence. Yeah. Cause like I normally feel pretty bad about buying a new journal. Cause I have a big old stack of them at home, but I finished one and now I'm like, bring it on.

Annie: [00:37:41] Yeah. You feel like you can conquer the world. Okay. The other thing that I, I am planning to buy this spring. Okay. You talk about bad days. The other day I was having a good day, but like I'd had an emotional conversation with my business coach learning things, but like had made it through the conversation and I thought, Hmm, soon I'm going to [00:38:00] need to like close the stress cycle.

I need to either go for a walk or I need to cry something like I've got to close the cycle. But before I did that, I decided to cook dinner. I was bebopping along listening to love Island, like playing in the background. I lift my cutting board up out of the dishwasher and it breaks into two pieces and falls and breaks my favorite bowl.

And then I collapsed in the corner of the kitchen and sobbed like a toddler because I, that was it. That was my breaking point so, um, I'm still using. That piece of thing, which sounds worse than it is, but it's a wooden cutting board and like the handle came off. So I'm still using the cutting board itself, but I need a new cutting board and I found a really pretty one on this website called material kitchen.

I'm just throwing this out here. I've not received mine yet, but it is beautiful looking. I'm going to report back on if this is good kitchen materials, but the website is called Material Kitchen. [00:39:00] Everything looks very well designed, pretty well priced. So I'm going to give it a go and I'm going to get a cutting board from them.

And a couple, I think I want like a little spatula to help with our sandwiches for well-read and sandwich bread.

Ashley: [00:39:11] Oh, like the flat one. nice.

Annie: [00:39:14] Yeah. So anyway, I'm never excited about kitchen stuff, but I'm weirdly excited about those two things cause I found this website where everything is just really well-designed. I hope it says well-made as it appears. We'll see. Nice.

Ashley: [00:39:27] Yeah. Give me a picture. Yeah. Um, okay. So I think I told you about this Starbucks drink.

Annie: [00:39:35] Yes.

Ashley: [00:39:36] Um, and I've been playing with it to see if I can perfect it. And I think I have

Annie: [00:39:42] okay.

Ashley: [00:39:42] For me. Um, and look not somebody who really enjoys ordering off the menu. Normally I'm just like, Caramel macchiato, ice cream day have a nice day, right? Um, exactly how it comes. This drink is so perfect for summer.

[00:40:00] Annie: [00:39:59] Okay.

Ashley: [00:40:00] It is. I'll tell you, I'll just tell you what I get. It is a grande lemonade with strawberries and Raz, two pumps of raspberry syrup on top. Okay. I got it today without the strawberries, because I ordered in the store and got scared to ask for them

Annie: [00:40:18] I bet you were so mature and confident and then.

Ashley: [00:40:26] I hate yelling through a mask and then you have to go through the plexiglass, ``um, right. And then I thought they wouldn't matter. So it was kind of partially me being scared, but also partially me testing experiments. Part of me thought the raspberry syrup was going to be the pink color, but no, the strawberries bring the pink color and they do matter.

And if you get the strawberries and the raspberry on top, they will be, the drink will be pink on top and yellow on the bottom. Okay. It's beautiful for Instagram or wherever you want to put it. Okay. And it's absolutely delicious.

Annie: [00:40:56] Okay. I'm going to try it because last year, my summer drink that truly [00:41:00] did. I feel like I owed Dunkin donuts for how it got me through the spring and summer of the pandemic, because I got their refresher drinks. Cause I'm not a coffee drinker. Right. So summer is my time to shine because that's when these places, all of a sudden they're like some people might like lemonade. Yes we do.

And so they're refreshers. I think one was like mango. Anyway. That's what got me through. But I am curious about this. I got a dragon fruit mangoes thing from Starbucks the other day and it was pretty good.

Ashley: [00:41:28] Um, there's another, um, Concoction that I'd like to try the, has the dragon fruit in it. It wasn't available. I went, I tried to get it yesterday, but it unavailable in my location.

Annie: [00:41:40] Okay. So you just go to Starbucks and you just say, I want to lemonade with strawberries and two pumps of raspberry?

Ashley: [00:41:47] Yes.

Annie: [00:41:48] And they'll make it for you.

Ashley: [00:41:49] Yes.

Annie: [00:41:49] Okay. I did not know that.

Ashley: [00:41:51] Uh, it's preferable to order for me to order on the app. Okay. And go through the drive-through and just say you have an online order for [00:42:00] Ashley. Cause then you don't have to.

Annie: [00:42:03] As the podcast listeners know the last time I went to Starbucks, I asked for a New York Times and got looked at because no one knew what the New York times was. And now I'm like scared that other, and then some customer, Janet kindly DMD me and she was like, Oh, Starbucks doesn't sell newspapers anymore.

But I didn't know that and so I felt so dumb. And so I think I also have that fear of like ordering off the menu, whatever, but he looks at me like I have to. Right. Yeah.

Ashley: [00:42:31] That's I don't want him to enjoy that. Yeah. It's intimidating. Get the app, get those reward points.

Annie: [00:42:38] All right. What else did you buy? Anything else? Anything else you want to tell the people about?

Ashley: [00:42:42] Um, I did. I bought, I bought so many things.

Annie: [00:42:46] I bought two swimsuits.

Ashley: [00:42:48] I can't find any bathing suit.

Annie: [00:42:49] I think when you own a pool, you just decide, I need 10 swimsuit. That is

Ashley: [00:42:53] true. I would just went through my closet and I actually found a swimsuit that I've never worn before, but I will be wearing it now. [00:43:00] That's probably going to have to be my swimsuit for the season.

Annie: [00:43:02] Okay. Like you've found fun. So I bought the made well, one. Okay that I sent you that was Stripe, but I, and I like it the one piece, but it did not come with padding. And I was like, what year is this? This was a very expensive swimsuit. Do they not all come with it?

So it's jus there. Like this lines, same sickness throughout. Yeah. There's a, there's like a band for like a bra component. Interesting.

Ashley: [00:43:28] I just, I know that there it's a big thing to have, like the removable pad.

Annie: [00:43:33] Yeah. So do I just put him back in, like, do I take the pads from another swimsuit and put them in this swimsuit? I guess I just am. I'm annoyed by that. And then I bought one from, and this is bizarre to me. The one I bought from Madwell super cute. No pad padding, no padding. The two piece that I bought from target fully lines, padding. Love it.

Ashley: [00:43:58] Interesting.

Annie: [00:43:58] Bizarre. [00:44:00] So strange. So strange shopping in general is just a weird experience and you're it  blind right now.

Ashley: [00:44:07] Not super fun for me.

Annie: [00:44:08] Yeah. Those are, those are the things we're buying for spring, kitchen stuff, Starbucks stuff, bathing suits that about sums it up. Sounds like a good time to be trying to make ourselves happy, it's working.

Have you, can we talk about this, that meme that's like. I started ordering prizes for myself. It's like, it's some meme or something. That's like started ordering prizes for myself to make myself happy during the pandemic and things that spiraled out of control. And that is a little bit how retail therapy has been for me.

Ashley: [00:44:37] It really has. There's like I'm, I have turned into the biggest yes person. Like you can send me something. Should I get this? Yes. I don't care what it is. I mean it's the same for myself. Like I'm pretty tight with my money, but I bought two cups. Because I wanted them from the bookshelf,

Annie: [00:44:55] From the Bookshelf. They're cute.

Ashley: [00:44:56] Drinking out of one right now. Yeah. I didn't need two cups. I just wanted [00:45:00] one. Right. But I got them both because why not?

Annie: [00:45:01] They're cute if we posted those Instagram yet. Uh, not yet, but I'm going to put this online. They're very cute. There's a, I still want the one that says BRB and it's the girl reading the book.

Ashley: [00:45:11] I got the one with the sunshine one.

Annie: [00:45:13] Mom got the cozy pants or the comfy pants. They're very cute.

Ashley: [00:45:16] There's one for everybody.

Annie: [00:45:17] Yeah, there really is. I bought, I bought them specifically with people in mind. I bought the sunshine one with you in mind, the cat one with Olivia in mind, the BRB one with me in mind, like I literally thought of people to buy them.

Ashley: [00:45:30] And we did.

Annie: [00:45:31] Thanks guys. Okay. Anything else? Or are we good?

Ashley: [00:45:34] I think I'm good.

Annie: [00:45:36] Thank you so much. This was delightful as usual.

Ashley: [00:45:39] Thanks for having me.

Annie:  From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.

A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at www.fromthefrontporchpodcast.com.

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.

This week, I’m reading Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau.

And you know what delightful, if you want to pretend you went to Paris, that's what you should read. Ashley, what are you reading?

Ashley: I am reading good company. By I don't know.sorry. I don't normally do things like this. (Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney).

Annie:  If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free media mail shipping on all your online book orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

episodes, kids tableAnnie Jones

a weekly conversational podcast on books, small business, and life in the South