Spare Time the Pod Alissa Avilov & Marie McGrath

Hot take from MM but March is theeeeEeE best month of the year! Arieses rise!!! 03/24 included lots of friendship, flowers, and Fletcher. Tune in for the full skinny xo
How did you spend your spare time this month:
* MM: flowers!! Friends! Solo time at home in DC! Busy bee-ing! Packing! Driving! Light wedding planning!
* AA: Boston 2x , friends, babies, listening to so much music and being happy about it , brandi IRL 
Best/Worst:
* Worst:
* MM: our a/c breaking on the drive down to Miami 
* AA: how does a person get better at trivia 
* Best: 
* AA: getting engaged again but honorable mention same as u MM + Kacey
* MM: being with my friends Spare Time Rec:
* AA: Mr & Mrs Smith 
* MM: listening to other people’s playlists
Culture / 3 Things You Need to Know: 
* Fletcher and Shannon are dominating my brain once again oooooh
* How’s your reading journey been going / books on our TBR we are excited about
* The chili crisp thing 
Look Ahead:
* MM: Miami and that is truly it!
* AA: YTT! Chicago! NYC! A nutritionist??? We’ll see. Do we care about Maggie and Taylor 


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Two girls with a lack of spare time for the month still somehow manage to speak on the topic for nearly 90 minutes. We are nothing if not verbose! Tune in for sandwiches, Kate Missington, and more!
How did you spend your spare time this month:
* MM: so….busy…..being eternally ill. Working! Truly riveting content! Missing my friend Alissa!
* AA: Missing my friend Marie! Also working but feeling fulfilled overall! Wow! Celebrating Hen, Cape Cod, Boston, NYC 
Best/Worst:
* Worst:
* MM: Your Only Friend
* AA: an overdressed Caesar that made me gag @ Macs 
* Best: 
* AA: Dame NYC and friends who you trust
* MM: I made some good soups! Shoutout to fish stock and to Rancho Gordo beans. 
Spare Time Rec:
* AA: buy tickets to small venues for artists you don’t know or don’t know well
* MM: the daylist feature on Spotify
Culture / 3 Things You Need to Know: 
* Kate Middletongate aka Kate Missington - link, link, link, link, link
* March + April Music - Ariana (brother/bf comparison pic for your reference), Fletcher, Bey, Kacey, Maggie, Taylor, Waxahatchee, GIR, Lizzy, Katie Pruitt 
* Strands NYT
Look Ahead:
* MM: THE music month is here!! Aries season, birthday celebrations, visits from friends, preparing to move my family to Miami for 5 weeks, more work! But also…FLOWERING TREES!!!!! The best thing on this earth maybe.
* AA: Leaning in to things that make me feel like myself inyoursparetime.substack.com

Celebrating the first ep of 2024, an amazing new song, an anniversary weekend, and much much more, but, most insanely of all: celebrating five years of the Spare Time Pod--in all her iterations
How did you spend your spare time this month:
* MM: wintering (real) and wintering (Miami), making some treats, getting engaged again, watching movies
* AA: anniversary weekend, Fam, playing in snow!, willing myself to knit, going to the theater!!!, seeing JOSEPH Best/Worst:
* Worst:
* MM: sorry but Hannahs sweet potato mantou (from Tenderheart)
* AA: the obvious (honorable mention lutèce) 
* Best: 
* AA: TBIL / Rasika 
* MM: spontaneous dim sum at China Garden Han Gong (highlights: shumai, green beans, chow fun)
Spare Time Rec:
* AA: The Curse? Good Material by Dolly Alderton 
* MM: “Right Back to It” by Waxahatchee (also…Fool Me Once??? sorry)
Culture / 3 Things You Need to Know: 
* Oscar Noms / The Grammys 
* The new Fletcher album / the new MR album 
* Mean Girls movie and any other films 
Look Ahead:
* MM: Leap day!!!! Shoemaker family gathering, Lunar New Year, Miami…the dawning of Marie’s Busy Time™️
* AA: Boston/Cape time, new music I think, Portland Maine, bubby time basically 
Spare Time Sundries are here!


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Another year gone by! The sands of time! Recap the full spin around our fav burning gas giant with our bests of the year in many silly and serious categories.
MOVIE:AA: Past Lives MM: Maybe Theatre Camp but idk
TV SHOW:AA: Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)MM: The Last of Us (HBO)
BOOK:AA: The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty (runner up: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett)MM: The Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang (runner up: Big Swiss by Jen Beagin)
ALBUM:AA: Girls Of My Dreams, Fletcher (runner up: same as MM + Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever), Noah Kahan and The Sun, JOSEPH)MM: the record, boygenius (runner up: Snow Angel, Renee Rapp, and GUTS, duh)
SONG:AA: As of this moment “The Wedding Song”, Renee Rapp and “The Tree”, Maren Morris for the vibe but for real it’s gotta be True Blue, boygenius for the real winner one of the most gorgeous songs on earth imo MM: “Not Strong Enough”, boygenius (honorable mention for a song that has been in my head for the last month: “Femininomenon” by Chappell Roan)
CONCERT:AA: sorry but it’s The Eras TourMM: it’s a tie! Boygenius or the MUNA set from All Things Go
MEAL:AA: Bar at SarmaMM: lunar new year dinner party
BREAKFAST:AA: Brown Butter Corn Cake at Radio Bakery in NYCMM: Bagels etc??????
LUNCH:AA: fennel, bean, olive, pecorino, sunflower seed, apple sal on repeat at least 1000 times (picnic in alethia tanner was the best) or the sweet potato, cucumber, citrus, peanut, lettuce, with the Cindy's Kitchen sesame ginger dressing MM: Cart Driver in Denver (honorable mention: Sofra with FOTP Sophia, perfect turkey sandwich on a picnic blanket in the park on March 26th)
DINNER:AA: Kowloon Fried Cauliflower at Little Donkey in Boston MM: Walrus Rodeo in Miami
DESSERT:AA: 3 citrus sorbet at weckerlys / hot fudge sundae hillstone MM: forever and always creme brulee from Le Dip
PURCHASE:AA:  Classic Easy Tote by CuyanaMM: not at all sexy but weekly compost pickup service
DISCOVERY:AA: I’m more of a literary fiction girlie I guess! Phony negroni MM: Quaker meeting (honorable mention: Dot’s Pretzels, Wegman’s ginger seltzer, slippers)
TRIP:AA: cape cod MM: Taos, NM Gaycation
#1 RECOMMENDATION: AA: take your lunch break / tell your friends that you love them MM: Is it too lame to recommend paying a professional to come clean your house monthly because that is my honest to god recommendation lol
What completely ordinary thing are you most grateful for right now in your life? MM: Modkat top entry litter box and tiny $2 digital clock from ikea, AA: Bouldering Project 2024 Mood Inspo:
* Sunlight flooding the kitchen after a few rainy days
* Feeling a little manic in the car and blasting a crazy song you forgot about until that very instant (“I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas, par example)
* Sitting on the couch having the giggles about nothing with your friends
* Getting complimented by a child
* When you’re at a concert and it’s the moment between songs and then the first notes play and you see two friends look at each other like “OH MY GOD THIS IS OUR SONG”
* Being really cozy and reading a book you can’t stop thinking about
* The special satisfaction of finishing a jar or tube of something
Thank you for spending your Spare Time with us in 2023. Looking forward to much more this year 🤍



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Happy 2024, friends! On our last regular ep of the year, we discuss drag bingo, a truly catastrophic cookie recipe, and...an engagement! Tune in next week for a special ep recapping 2023.
How did you spend your spare time this month:
* MM: Holiday-ing! Loving on friends and fam in DC, PA, MIA, 
* AA: drag bingo, scrapbooking, not knitting SOS, holiday shows, holiday dinners, baking cookies, spending christmas with my baby nephews 
Best/Worst:
* Worst:
* MM: two major fails: whole fish + cookies
* AA: the bon appetit smores cookies - seriously wrong 
* Best: 
* AA: everything I ate at I Egg You and the carrots at yellow: wood-roasted carrots tahini ranch, urfathing spice 
* MM: Getting enGayged 0o0o00o0o
Spare Time Rec:
* AA: Culture Study Pod + Your Sweaters Are Garbage 
* MM: The Land of Milk and Honey and The Book of Difficult Fruit
Culture / 3 Things You Need to Know: 
* The Iron Claw - I just have to give everyone a warning 
* Goodles 
* 2024 Book & Music Release Radar
Look Ahead:
* MM: trad-wife life lol, more themed dinner parties, more moving, thrifting, driving (!), and many more new year’s resolutions, new journeys for us both (stay tuned for more teehee), and old journeys aka reading 
* AA: D&D???? 75 Hard continues, TBIL weekend, going to the cape, reading I go so hard in Jan and have so many arcs, and the soon to be famous cookbook journey, Subscription Box - more to come!


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November was a big for family, food, work, and being tired! I know that’s pretty unique but hopefully one or two of you can relate! Beyond that we discuss nutrituional yeast vinegar, Spotify Wrapped, and sharing a shave ice with friends. What’s not to love??

How did you spend your spare time this month:
* MM: working big time, being in Miami, recovering from working, holiday-ing, recovering from holiday-ing! Fam time, etc.
* AA: Boston! Friends! So many work dinners and things, NYC, Family, Friendsgiving, Touring the West Wing, etc. 
Best/Worst:
* Worst:
* MM: Cooking two Thanksgivings in a row
* AA: Chocolate peanut butter croissant at Radio Bakery lol 
* Best: 
* AA: the shaved ice dessert at Tonchin in Brooklyn but it was mostly the company probably 
* MM: Stock party! Best of Thanksgiving: Eric Kim’s Cheesy Scallion Stuffing
Spare Time Rec:
* AA: Have You Heard of Christmas by Matt Rogers 
* MM: Purchasing a gift from our gift guide (and The Dry Down newsletter)
Culture / 3 Things You Need to Know: 
* Spotify wrapped wrapped
* MOVIES (Good Grief, LTWB, Renaissance, Hunger Games, Past Lives, Saltburn, May December)
* Nutritional Yeast Vin 
Look Ahead:
* MM: December! You’ve always been a problem child! Reminiscing, daydreaming, thinking about the year ahead! Celebrating Christmas! Listening to my best of all time playlist! READING–I’ve got 14 books left to crush to hit 100 lol
* AA: Yearning for the Sara B album I guess, knitting I sure hope, reading, watching movies, snowboarding, celebrating Christmas with my nephews which will be too cute I think. 75 hard?


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit inyoursparetime.substack.com