Melanie talks with Esther Emery about her new book, What Falls from the Sky. After her husband had an affair with her best friend, Esther moved across the country with her family and embarked on a year without the internet. She currently lives off the grid in a yurt in the mountains.
Melanie talks with Jamie Laslo, who co-founded Ornaments4Orphans with her husband, Scott. They talk about how they're using ornaments to empower artisans and preserve families in East Africa, and Melanie and Jamie share their favorite Christmas decorations, traditions, movies, and songs. They also have a major disagreement about a Christmas movie. Will their friendship survive? (Spoiler alert: it does.)
Melanie talks with Chantel Adams, founder of Forever We, which connects kids with cancer with families who care. They talk about Forever We's dolls and books, childhood cancer awareness, and also selfie sticks, high-waisted pants, and their Hogwarts houses.
Melanie interviews Bekah Jane Pogue, author of Choosing Real: An invitation to Celebrate When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned. They talk about the book, their Thanksgiving traditions, and Melanie may have processed some intense feelings about people posting videos of couples’ workouts on Facebook.
Zach Hoag is an author, preacher, and creator from New England. Planting a church in one of the least churched cities in the U.S. (Burlington, Vermont), and pursuing ministry beyond that in a variety of spaces, Zach has learned a few things about the power of a deeply rooted life in Christ. Zach has found belonging in Westford, Vermont where he lives with his wife, Kalen, and their three girls. Find him writing at zhoag.com and follow him on Twitter @zhoag.
Melanie talks with Jennifer Dukes Lee about her new book, The Happiness Dare. She took the quiz to find her happiness style and Jennifer psychoanalyses her and explains all five happiness styles, Experiencer, Doer, Thinker, Giver, and Relater. What’s your happiness style? Listen in, and lighten up.
Melanie talks with Lydia Mays, the founder of See Beautiful, a philanthropic company focused on giving back, which empowers children and adults to see and create more beautiful in the world. They cover dogs in strollers and purses, plus adult Halloween costumes. Listen in and lighten up.
Melanie talks to Kari Kampakis, author of 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know, about her new book, Liked, releasing November 15. They cover navigating your middle and high school girls through social media and "mean girls," as well as writing, lightening up, and this little known thing people are talking about called football season.
Melanie talks with Alli Worthington, COO of Propel, founder of Blissdom, and author of Breaking Busy, about cutting out distraction, writing books, and leading leaders, plus how we need to lighten up, movie reviews, and When Pumpkin Spice Goes Too Far. Alli has so much wisdom to share with us and she’s fun and funny and after listening to this you’ll want to be her friend.
Melanie talks with Alex Dale, her long-suffering graphic designer husband who of his own volition dressed up in a Maimed Cookie Man costume to become the It’s Not Fair mascot at the book launch party. They interview each other, discussing important topics like who is cooler, Batman or Iron Man, which John Cusack movie is the best, how they met when Melanie was a twerpy freshman, and how they learned to laugh through hard stuff. They also perform a dramatic reading of their kids talking about where babies come out of.
Melanie talks with Kendall Ashley, a writer at Nerdist and Geek & Sundry and editor at a publishing house, about bun-stuffing in ballet, her perspective as an editor, San Diego Comic-Con, and all their conflicted feelings about the new Harry Potter book, The Cursed Child. She has so many great recommendations for reading and viewing and Melanie shares about one of the most embarrassing moments of her life.
Melanie talks with Chris Marlow, founder of Help One Now and author of Doing Good Is Simple, about his new book, Ryan Reynold’s parenting tweets, and sending kids on mission trips. There may have been a moment when they were both talking about seals, but he meant Navy and Melanie was picturing the ones with whiskers and flippers.
Melanie talks with Steen Jones, new author and founder of COLORS scarves, about her debut novel, The Door Keeper, our awesome kids with autism, spending the night in a treehouse, and reasons women were committed to mental institutions in the ninetheenth century that will melt your brain. Also, doing the sniff test on clothes and the pros and cons of nose rings. World-changing stuff.
Melanie talks with Osheta Moore, podcaster and blogger at Shalom in the City, about her practice of shalom, lightening up about dinners, and her hair. Then they deep dive into The Princess Bride about everything from favorite quotes, characters, and scenes to if The Machine could suck one year of your life away, which one would you want it to suck?
Melanie talks with Jenny Rapson, editor of ForEveryMom.com, about three B’s: bad reviews, bikinis, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She reads her one-star reviews for the first time ever, Jenny shares how she thinks people need to lighten up, and they get all late-nineties nostalgic about the WB.