Around the Table Podcast

In this episode, we discuss the importance of discipline in a balanced life, what we wanted to be when we grow up, and the correct pronunciation of 'Nutella.'

If you haven't had a chance to review our podcast on iTunes, we would greatly appreciate it. If you have reviewed us, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!  

What we talked about:

Sacrifice vs. Reward

Discipline (especially as it pertains to exercise and healthy eating) in order to reap the rewards.
The social stigma attached to making sacrifices for your health and the reward of exercising self-control.
The vulnerability of making lifestyle changes.
Viewing your eating habits through a 90/10 lens - 90% of the time you're eating to fuel your body, 10% of the time you're eating for pleasure.
What we mean when we say 'balance.'

"One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up."
- C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

What we want to be when we grow up.

Jacey wanted to be a teacher, a famous author, and lawyer. Maggie wanted to be a poet, a veterinarian, and a sportscaster.
We share our journeys of how we got to where we are now.
Advice or encouragement we would give someone just graduating from college.

What we said:

"Our culture has become repellant to things that require us to make sacrifices...we've lost sight of the reward that comes at the end." - Maggie
"Self-control is a fruit of spiritual, mental, emotional maturity." - Maggie
"Because we view food as this thing that is pleasurable and as something we've earned or deserve to enjoy, we have a harder time being disciplined with it." - Maggie
"Because our culture takes things to such an extreme, if you say you're on a diet, people are automatically going to think of a crash diet." - Jacey
"We also have to be willing to be in our own lane and make our own choices without having to lord it over people." - Jacey
"Balance looks like being aware of your whole person...not sacrificing physical health for the sake of the mental or emotional (or vice versa)." - Maggie
"Balance to me is deliberately choosing priorities and then making time/room for them." - Jacey (from the 'About' section on her blog, The Balanced Wife)
"I'm eating a raw kale leaf in one hand and dismembering a gingerbread man with the other." - Jacey
"I wanted to be loved and admired the way my teacher was...and in charge." - Jacey, on wanting to be a teacher.
"Give yourself grace to get where you are going at the pace you're supposed to get there." - Maggie's advice for someone graduating from college.
"You don't have to make something of yourself...your resume is not your identity...the value you bring to the world is based on who you are and who you were created to be." - Jacey's advice for someone graduating college.

Thoughts, questions, comments?

Find Around the Table on Instagram or Twitter, or leave a comment below.

Maggie on Instagram, Twitter, and her blog

Jacey on Instagram, Twitter and her blog

The post Sacrifice vs. reward and what we want to be when we grow up appeared first on Around the Table Podcast.

In this episode, we share our experience on a Charleston culinary tour, we host our third edition of Read/Watch/Listen/Follow, and answer a listener question about getting started running! 

All photography by @jensane

Charleston Culinary Tours invited us on one of their Upper King Street tours this week, and we had a blast!

We visited three restaurants and a bakery where we indulged in some of the finest food offerings in the city. Maggie would want to work as a culinary tour guide if she weren't moving.

Our guide, Guilds, grew up in Charleston and taught us history as well as about the rise of the culinary scene in Charleston.

Jacey's favorite restaurant on the tour was Hom, a burger boutique.

Dixie flatbread - pimento cheese, confit pork, caramelized onions, arugula dressed with maple bacon vinaigrette.

The Green Gobble'n -  a turkey burger inspired by Thanksgiving, featuring melted leeks, spinach, brie, green goddess aioli, and green apple.

Maggie's favorite was R Kitchen, an old house turned kitchen that seats 15-25 and serves a different menu each night with five courses for $25. Michael, the sous chef, cooked right in front of us and answered questions as he cooked.

The ricotta and pesto gnocchi melted in your mouth, and were served on top of roasted red pepper couli, topped with bacon, shallots, pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes.

Maggie wanted to bathe in the parsnip and cauliflower puree underneath the braised short rib.

Our last restaurant stop was Lana, where we ate a fish stew and mushroom risotto.

We topped it all off at nationally renowned Sugar Bakeshop, where we ate vanilla cupcakes with stewed cranberries inside and vanilla buttercream frosting. They sent us home with a pecan chewie goodie bag!

If you're visiting Charleston, head here to schedule a culinary tour!

A few historical facts we learned on the tour:

Charleston is home to the oldest continually chartered YMCA in the US.
We visited the oldest privately owned Jewish burial ground in the US.
Charleston is called the Holy City because it was one of the first cities to tout religious tolerance.
From 1800-1900 there were more Jews in Charleston than in New York. It was also the first city where Jews could own a business, own property and vote.
Penina Moise was buried there, the first published woman.

Our third edition of Read/Watch/Listen/Follow:

Reading: Heritage by Sean Brock, Inside the Test Kitchen: 120 New Recipes, Perfected by Tyler Florence, At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Want to join us for our Around the Table book club? Read Guernsey with us and use the hashtag #ATTbookclub to give your thoughts about the book!
Watching: Friends, Parenthood, Selma, American Sniper, The Wire
Listening: These Crazy Times by Jon McLaughlin, Paper Kites, Episode 78 of the Art of Simple podcast: Work, Study Rest, Play (or, Hemingway's tweets)
Following: @thepopcast, @theellenshow, @theoffice_photos
If Andy Dwyer quotes were motivational posters

Lastly, we answer a listener question about how to get started with running!

Do you like to run?
Try the app Couch to 5K, or a similar one
Break up your runs at first: run a half mile, then walk a half  mile when you're starting, for example.
Find a running or accountability partner, or use an accountability app like Lift
Give it a month of consistent running before you decide if you hate it.
Turn down the volume on your inner critic and negativity. (And can someone put that on a poster, please?)

Thoughts, questions, comments?

Find Around the Table on Instagram or Twitter, or leave a comment below.

Maggie on Instagram, Twitter, and her blog

Jacey on Instagram,

In this week's episode, we talk about how to: road trip, accept compliments, and fall in love with anyone. We also play a mad round of 'Fortunately/Unfortunately,' so hold on to your pets and your phalanges.

Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed our podcast on iTunes! It means so much to us.

Show Notes:

Jacey and Maggie begin this week's episode by recounting the event henceforth referred to as 'The Battle of the Ravenel Bridge." It is a riveting tale of hardship, perserverence, and ultimate victory.

Jacey saw Selma last week and highly recommends it. She also shares how the movie challenged her and raised the following questions:

Is being a small part of a great cause enough for our generation?
Has the need to be known for what we're doing stolen our ability to accomplish anything meaningful?

 “Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Speaking of Alabama, Jacey and Maggie are taking a road trip to Birmingham soon!

What are some of your road-trip strategies?

Maggie loves driving and road trips, while Jacey loves being driven.
Both ladies agree road trips are great opportunities for catching up on phone calls, music, podcasts, and alone time.
Maggie hates stopping frequently, but when she does stop she takes her time. Jacey stops more freqently but doesn't like to dilly-dally.
Both agree road trip snackage is KEY:

Jacey goes to Trader Joe's and indulges on road trip snacks.
Maggie eats her body weight in baby carrots.

Road trip games:

Would You Rather?
The Question Game
Fortunately/Unfortunately (Just a warning: this one gets a little...interesting. Brace yourselves)

Jacey and Mike are planning an exciting trip to Europe this summer. We discuss the benefits of traveling in the context of purpose and blessing.

Traveling takes you outside of your comfort zone and contributes to character growth. Encountering new cultures provides perspective and challenges what we know and believe.
It is an act of worship. Exploring new aspects of creation honors the creator.
Traveling allows us to be influenced by people whose stories and journeys are incredibly different from our own.
It provides creative inspiration.

Do you have trouble receiving compliments? How do you go about giving them?

Our tips for receiving compliments:

Say thank you.
Be genuine- false humility is not becoming.

Our tips for giving compliments:

If you think it, say it!
Slide bits of encouragement into everyday conversation.

In other news, someone has discovered how 'To Fall in Love with Anyone.'

Thoughts, questions, comments?
Find Around the Table on Instagram or Twitter, or leave a comment below.

Maggie on Instagram, Twitter, and her blog

Jacey on Instagram, Twitter and her blog

Byeeee!

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In this episode, we talk about a candle making class we took, this Harvard Business Review article How Will You Measure Your Life, what not to sacrifice when paying off debt, and a very important decision Jacey needs your help to make.

Proceed NO FURTHER without reviewing our podcast iTunes. Please?

Last week was our least favorite week of 2015 so far. So we're talking about the week before instead!

Candlefish: 

We took a candle making class at Candlefish. Jacey wants to live there and/or open her own Candlefish should she ever leave Charleston. We spend the first segment of our show gushing over the candle making experience and sharing what we learned!

Fun fact: At her wedding, Jacey assigned dinner seating by wine varietals instead of table number i.e. "I'm at the Chardonnay table!"

Candlefish sells many brands of candles, Rifle Paper Co products and the lunch boxes from our gift menu! Remember that? How we love you and Christmas so much that we did giveaways? We're always thinking of you guys. That's worth an iTunes review, right?

How will you measure your life?

We discussed the article, How Will You Measure Your Life, by Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen:

This quote from the article resonated strongly with Jacey, especially after writing Valuable Work Isn't Always Paid or Even Noticed this week:

"When people who have a high need for achievement...have an extra half hour of time or an extra ounce of energy, they’ll unconsciously allocate it to activities that yield the most tangible accomplishments. And our careers provide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward. You ship a product, finish a design, complete a presentation, close a sale, teach a class, publish a paper, get paid, get promoted. In contrast, investing time and energy in your relationship with your spouse and children typically doesn’t offer that same immediate sense of achievement...You can neglect your relationship with your spouse, and on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t seem as if things are deteriorating. People who are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness."

Maggie pointed out the part about how businesses overinvest in things that bring immediate returns, and eventually unravel from those decisions.

Christensen writes, "If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see the same stunning and sobering pattern: people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most."

How much attention do we pay to metrics that don't even measure the things we say "matter most," like social media followers?

A life of integrity is closely tied with humility.

To sum it up, Christensen says,

"I’ve concluded that the metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched."

What not to sacrifice when paying off debt:

Jacey shares five things they didn't sacrifice to get out of debt. She's teaching a class for The Influence Network called Paying Down Debt 101, so check it out if you would benefit!

VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: Jacey has had the same haircut for the past six years, because it's amazing - 

BUT...she's thinking about changing it.

**ignore the facial expression, but judge the haircut** THOUGHTS?! Is ombre on its way out?

Jacey's boss bought her Mane 'n Tail to help her grow her hair to this length more quickly.

Clearly, we need your feedback. Find Around the Table on Instagram or Twitter, or leave a comment below.

In this episode we talk about surviving the bleak winter months, decluttering our lives and closets, and healthy winter recipes.

First, a question. Is an 18-19 year old still considered a teenager? Either way, our podcast is super excited to finally be in its twenties! Thanks for listening to us through our awkward teens!

It’s winter time! And this gif is what Jacey requires of Maggie to survive the next few months.

Winter Pros:

Winter clothes, layers, scarves, outerwear, jeans, boots and booties
Maggie thinks running in the cold > running in the heat
Binge-watching shows, watching movies, catching up on reading
Winter food, hot beverages, and the two-handed mug clasp
Traveling cheaply
Shivering burns more calories
Winter is a good season for rest, reflection, recuperation and preparation

Winter Cons:

Umm...it’s cold
Less daylight/shorter days
Jacey thinks running in heat > running in the cold

Let's talk decluttering.
We are both purgers. Where do you fall on the purge/hoard spectrum?

Jacey’s mom is a professional organizer and recommends the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. A couple questions from the book:

When decluttering, look at an item and ask, 'does this spark joy?'
Are the things you own beautiful and/or useful?

There are a few sentimental items that always survive the declutttering process. What are the things that you keep for no other reason than sentimentality?

Also, can we all just get rid of our ex-boyfriend boxes, please?

Update on Jacey’s Capsule Wardrobe:

Jacey's original blog post.
Check out our first podcast conversation about it here!
Capsule wardrobe resource: www.un-fancy.com

Healthy Winter Food Options:

Experiment with root vegetables, winter squash, and winter greens
Soups (stay away from cream based versions)
Utilize winter spices and spice-heavy dishes (i.e curries and other ethnic cuisine)
Chilis and bean/legume heavy options
Yotom Ottelenghi's books (check out this book set from our gift-guide) are great for healthy inspiration
Kale Soup Recipe

Don’t forget about our book club! 
We'll read a book every other month, and we'd love for you to join us. Our first book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows. Share your thoughts on the book with us and other readers using the hashtag #ATTbookclub.

That's all folks! If you like our show, please consider leaving a rating and review in iTunes! It helps other people find our show and it helps us feel good about ourselves.

Some links are affiliates. Thanks for supporting our site!

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It's the first episode of 2015! Let's just go for it.

In this episode, we feature the second edition of Read/Watch/Listen/Follow, we introduce our Around the Table book club, we discuss our feelings about New Year's Resolutions and how we stick with commitments (resolutions or otherwise.)

Show notes for this episode:

In our second edition of Read/Watch/Listen/Follow:

Reading: the new magazine Magnify and Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Watching: Anything with Katharine Hepburn, specifically Bringing Up Baby, and the period drama The Americans
Listening: Dancing Years, James Bay and the Relevant podcast
Following: Style IGer Michelle Conley Cherry, Champagne in the Rain lifestyle blogger Emily Brunotte, and hip mama and Etsy shop owner Sarah Joy

Drum roll please...

We're starting an Around the Table book club!

We'll read a book every other month, and we'd love for you to join us. Our first book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows. Share your thoughts on the book with us and other readers using the hashtag #ATTbookclub.

It's 2015. Do you make new year's resolutions?

We discuss this article: Do You Make New Year's Resolutions? What Your Answer Reveals by Gretchen Rubin. Are you an upholder, questioner, obliger or rebel? Take the quiz here.
Also check out her other post with 13 Suggestions for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions

What we do to stick with commitments:

Know your weaknesses
External accountability and structure
Jacey uses Lara Casey's Powersheets for goal setting
Make sure your goals match your core and your values
Consider a daily goal
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good

What worked for you and what didn't in 2014? What's one thing you're looking forward to and what thing you hope to accomplish in 2015?

Let us know on Twitter, Instagram or in the comments below. And if you like our show, please consider leaving a rating and review in iTunes! It helps other people find our show and it helps us feel good about ourselves.

Happy New Year!

Some links are affiliates. Thanks for supporting our site!

The post Do you make New year’s resolutions? appeared first on Around the Table Podcast.

In our last episode of 2014, we discuss our half marathon, Christmas cards + gifts, the most memorable gifts we've received and a 2014 review. Let's get started!

Show notes:

We finished our first half marathon, and discussed it in detail. It was oddly emotional. You may want to skip the first 20 minutes or so if you're not interested. And if you still can't get enough, Jacey wrote a blog post about it.

Our last Christmas segment:

We talk where we're at with Christmas gifts and cards. Jacey is sending a few of these postcards from the company she works for, Naptime Diaries.
Enjoy the last few weeks of holiday music and check out our Spotify playlist if you haven't yet!
The most memorable gifts we've received.
Is your love language receiving gifts? What's the most memorable gift YOU'VE ever received?

2014 in review - we ask and answer these questions:

What was the best purchase you made in 2014?
What was your favorite book you read in 2014?
In Creating Your Life Plan, Donald Miller encourages you to look at events in your life that changed you or your course in a way that you could never go back, like walking through a door. What "doorway moments" did you have in 2014?
What are you most proud of from 2014?
What's your favorite song from 2014?
What's the biggest change that's taken place in you in 2014?
What advice would YOU give at this point in life?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks so much for listening. We're grateful for you! 

The post Half marathon and 2014 recap appeared first on Around the Table Podcast.

In this week's episode, we share our favorite Christmas memories and discuss what we've been reading, watching, listening to, and following recently. We also chat about relationships (of the romantic kind) during the holidays and Maggie shares tips on what to eat in preparation for a race.

We begin with our Christmas segment where we share some of our favorite Christmas traditions:

Maggie's family travels over the holidays. Exploring the Christmas markets in Paris, Prague, and Dresden, Germany was a favorite trip.

Jacey's family opens one gift on Christmas Eve (it's usually pajamas,) and her mom makes homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.

We also share a favorite Christmas memory:

Two years ago, Maggie spent Christmas away from her family in Israel. It turned out to be a very special day and her favorite moment involved fitting 12 people into a VERY small room.

Jacey's dad still proudly displays the maimed glass reindeer that stars in Jacey's favorite holiday memory.

What are some of your favorite memories and traditions?

In case you missed it last week, we made a Spotify playlist of some of our favorite Christmas music for you! It's three hours long, and we have excellent taste, so you're welcome:

This week, we're beginning a new segment called Read, Watch, Listen, Follow where we discuss the things we've been (you guessed it) reading, watching, listening to, and following recently.

What we're reading:

The Skimm: the daily email newsletter that fills you in on all the important goings-on politically, socially, and culturally.
Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

What we're watching:

Blacklist
This video of Steve Carell on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon:

What we're listening to:

The Startup Podcast (and really anything from Gimlet Media)
Reply All Podcast
Dirty Loops
Sam Hunt

Who we're folloing:

Creative Mornings Charleston
Jen Lee (aka @Jensane)

Summary of our discussion on the pros and cons of romantic relationships during the holidays:
While it's hard to navigate the combining of families and traditions at Christmas, it is nice to have a hand to hold while ice skating and braving holiday parties.

What are your thoughts on romance during the holidays?

Jacey and Maggie just ran a half-marathon. Here are a few nutrition tips in preparation for race day:

Combine (proper) carb loading with exercise taper.

Begin 3 days before event
Don't over-eat fatty, sugary foods
Hydrate appropriately

Don't try out any new foods on race day. Practice what you will eat during your event on training days.
A good rule for breakfast: for each hour before the start of your race, eat 100 calories. So, if your event begins at 8am and you are eating breakfast at 5am, your meal should be about 300 calories.

That's all for this week. We’re so grateful for the time you spend with us each week. If you’re enjoying the show, please rate and review us on iTunes! We hear it matters.

K, byeeee!

The post Episode 017: Christmas Memories, Holiday Romance, and Gearing Up for Race Day appeared first on Around the Table Podcast.

In this week's episode, we chat about Christmas movies, board games, and breakfast ideas. We also discuss Maggie's unique strategy for staying healthy during the holidays, and what motivates us to change.

**DISCLAIMER: We talk about Santa and whether we believed in him or not, so you may want to make sure there aren't any eavesdropping little ones around!**

For this week's Christmas segment, we discuss our favorite Christmas movies. Here's our list of Christmas classics:

Miracle on 34th Street
It's a Wonderful Life
Home Alone
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (clay-mation)

Here are a few more movies we love, but may be too recent or obscure to be considered 'classic.'

Love Actually
Elf
Family Stone

(We are also big fans of all the cheesy Hallmark films.)
What are we missing from our list?

In case you missed it last week, we made a Spotify playlist of some of our favorite Christmas music for you! It's three hours long, and we have excellent taste, so you're welcome:

The holidays provide ample opportunity for board games and game nights.

We distinguish between those games that stretch your I.Q. (Trivial Pursuit, Balderdash) and those that lower it (Charades, Telephone Pictionary)
Heads Up is a really fun game you can download from the app store to your phone or iPad.
Jacey confesses she doesn't actually like board games!

Maggie and her roommate embarked on a Healthy Christmas Crackdown.
There's a chart. And stickers.

In addition to discussing the similarities between Maggie's chart and a potty-training scheme, we also discuss what motivates us to change. What motivates you to change behavior? Positive or negative reinforcement? Accountability?

On the topic of healthy eating, this week's advice section was all about healthy breakfast options. A few of Maggie's recommendations are:

Breakfast quinoa (like this)
Banana and almond butter
Breakfast cookies (like these)
Smoothies (like these)
Avocado Toast
Breakfast sandwiches (like these)

What are some of your favorite breakfast foods? 

That's all for this week. We’re so grateful for the time you spend with us each week. If you’re enjoying the show, please rate and review us on iTunes! We hear it matters.

K, byeeee!

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In this episode, we talk about Christmas music, some big news from Maggie, and friendship.

Before we jump into the show:

We have four gift menus for you, starting tomorrow. These menus will be fun categories, such as Foodie Finds and (DIY free!) Gifts on a Budget.

In the spirit of holiday cheer (blame the eggnog!), we're doing TWO giveaways: a $30 gift card to the movie theatre of your choice, and a cocktail gift set featuring Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails and Bittermilk No.2.

To enter, simply sign up for our email list! We email our show notes and a recording of the show each week, plus the occasional fun thing like these gift menus. That's it! We just want to keep in touch with you more- be our pen pal?

Show notes for this episode:

For the remaining months in 2014, we'll have a Christmas segment!

This week, we're talking Christmas music.

Our favorites:

River
O Holy Night
Ella Fitzgerald
James Taylor's Christmas album

Go ahead and erase these from human memory:

Christmas Shoes
Feliz Navidad
Santa Baby
Wonderful Christmastime

We made a Spotify playlist of some of our favorite Christmas music for you! It's three hours long, and we have excellent taste, so you're welcome:

Maggie's current faves:

Idina Menzel and Michael Buble, Baby It's Cold Outside:

Pentatonix, Mary, Did You Know?

Maggie's life change, part one:

...SHE WENT BLONDE!!

You'll have to listen to hear the other big update. A big change for Maggie is a big change for our friendship, which we talk about in depth this episode.

We attempt to have a therapy session about our friendship and draw some sort of universal truth out of it to justify publishing this conversation on the Internet.

This episode more than ever feels like two friends sharing their hearts. So if you're into that, you'll love this episode.

How can we be happy for friends and mourn the loss of a stage in the relationship at the same time?

Maggie asks Jacey, "How do you stay motivated to work on side projects outside of your day job?"

Commit ahead of time, then follow through
Remember the big picture vision: Why am I doing this? What's the motivation beyond myself? What excited me about this project in the first place?
Offer grace: don't beat yourself up

That's it, folks.

What are your favorite Christmas songs, and which should we erase from human memory? How do you handle some of these deep friendship situations? What keeps you motivated to work on projects you aren't getting paid for, or don't have a boss to oversee you?

We're so grateful for the time you spend with us each week. If you're enjoying the show, please rate and review us on iTunes! We hear it matters.

Until next time...

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