Be There in Five Kate Kennedy

This week, a magical marvel of a solar event stuns the world, and Kate and Caroline can’t be bothered to go outside. Instead, they take a look into their mirrored furniture and do some self-reflection, such as why we always think the current version of ourselves participating in lightning-fast trend turnover is “timeless.” They also discuss various topics like avoiding popular movies and tv shows that will bum them out, fast furniture, SoulCycle music, etc. At one point, Kate goes on a rant about the marketing of a denim company that works overtime to remind her she probably hates her body post-baby, and they also spend quite a bit of time going through the Cupcakes & Cashmere archives on the Wayback machine. Enjoy!

This week, Amanda Montell (linguist and bestselling author of Cultish) is back on the pod for the first time since the LuLaRoe deep dive. This time, they’re discussing Amanda’s new book (out April 9) called The Age of Magical Overthinking, which explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking. Broadly defined as the belief that one’s internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world, the book (and this episode) examines topics like celebrity worship, manifesting babes, therapy speak, toxic relationships, weaponized nostalgia, conspiracy theories, and other categories where our inner mental gymnasts are doing the most to justify our behavior. Enjoy!

This week, Kate is joined by Cassey Ho, best known for her blog/brand/YouTube channel Blogilates and also for being CEO and lead designer behind her apparel line POPFLEX. As the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Cassey's non-negotiable, pre-destined career path was medicine. Despite her dream of becoming a fashion designer being severely suppressed, she found her way out of biology and into design and fitness influencing in the heyday of YouTube and now has amassed millions of subscribers and followers, billions of views, and a wildly successful activewear line (that Kate wears constantly). She also happens to be a Beth, so this combines two series: Under the Influencer & Beths in Show. They dive into her background, her YouTube days, diet culture and body positivity, internet trolls who comment on your body, Popflex crowdsourced product development and design, and Kate even provides her two cents about what she needs in an elusive black one-piece bathing suit and Cassey just might be up for the task. Enjoy!

This week, Kate solo snorkels through a variety of topics, including but not limited to:

Power ranking Ms. Rachel songs
Calculating how much money she probs makes
Hand-slapping campfire songs as millennial folklore
2000s songs with a maybe problematic cultural flair
The Giving Tree is not the vibe
Minor controversies with Ms. Rachel’s troupe
Olivia Rodrigo Concert
People don’t understand Plan B
A Frito Pie/Traveling Nacho hangover
Hero school cafeteria lunches
Dodgeball as a torture mechanism
Wondering if I’d get a boyfriend if I drove a stick
Kate Middleton news
And other riveting topics.

Enjoy!

Kate is joined by comedian and TV host Michelle Collins to discuss this week’s events and related tangents. They venture into topics such as royal conspiracy theories, Meghan Markle’s new business venture, a brief spiral over the 5 hard R sounds in American Riviera Orchard, the Oscars, Cillian Murphy’s height, British slang, hair yearbooks, Kate’s mom life, and Love is Blind, among other topics. Enjoy!

This week, we head back to Plathville because Kate has a very special guest on the podcast: Olivia Plath. Kate and Olivia talk more about her background and upbringing outside of the Plath family, deconstructing fundamentalist Christianity, more about the "courting" phase with Ethan, their political differences that weren't aired, and expands on the MLM/credit card story, among other topics related to the show and Olivia's personal faith journey. Kate also floats her theories about the Barry/Kim dynamic and Olivia reveals more context that happened off-screen that contributed to the tension with her in-laws. Enjoy!