It's just a whole lot of real life on this week's episode - no mountains, no writing retreat, no "DAAAAAD!" So Melanie updates us on the Shankles, I update on the Hudsons, and then I talk at great length about season 2 of The Bear, which, for the record, has the worst language of any show I have ever watched but my goodness I love it so much. We also analyze options for a new TV show for Mel and share a quick Patreon catch-up.

On top of all that, we discuss the pointlessness of 4th of July outfits, and it's Melanie's turn for Five Favorites.

Hope you enjoy!

 - Join Us on Patreon

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- French 75

- The Bear on Hulu

- The Summer I Turned Pretty

- Where the Crawdads Sing movie

- Stand All the Way Up (in case you missed it)

- Grace Upon Grace (in case you missed it) 

- On the Bright Side (in case you missed it) 

- Shrinking on AppleTV+

- Go As A River - July Book Club on Patreon (listen - we still got the title wrong when we talked about it in the episode, and we got it wrong so many times)

- Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris

- Peanut Butter Cookie Chocolate Banana Pie

- Pioneer Woman's Tres Leches Cake

- aviator-style reading glasses

- eyeglasses case

- quilted leather phone case

- menopause support supplements

- satin pajamas that come in tons of colors

- Helix (use this link for 20% off and two free pillows)

- Thrive Causemetics (use this link for 20% off your first order)

- Nuts.com (use this link for a free gift and free shipping on orders of $29 or more)

- Green Chef (use code BIGBOO50 to get 50% off plus free shipping)